During this crisis world development banks have become true pillars of national economies, supporting businesses, allocating government funds and mobilizing private capital to support societies in these hard times. On September 9 their representatives and members of international bodies gathered for an online conference “From Pandemic to Recovery” to discuss the experience accumulated through six months of work in new circumstances. The conference was moderated from Moscow and organized by Russian development bank VEB.RF in partnership with IDFC and in line with the upcoming public development banks Summit “Finance in Common” that is going to take place in Paris in November this year. The banks and associations participating in the Conference represented financial institutions with total amount of assets in excess of $8 trillion.

Igor Shuvalov, chairperson of VEB.RF, outlined the major focus of the conference, namely sustainable infrastructure and support of small and medium enterprises. Remy Rioux, co-host of the conference, CEO of French Agency of Development and IDFC said that 450 public development banks that exit in the world is a formidable force in tackling the current crisis. They are perfectly positioned for building bridges between different economies, making a shared input into Sustainable Development Goals and planning a collective response to the pandemic.

The importance of the topic was underlined by high level of participation. In his opening speech UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres stressed that in the period of post-pandemic recovery there is an increased need for infrastructural and social projects while small and medium enterprises lack access to financial services and liquidity. OECD General Secretary Jose Angel Gurria was even more alarmed. According to him, the decline in world GDP in 2020 (estimated as about 6%) will be the biggest for the whole history of OECD existence. 38% of small and medium enterprises within the OECD would have completely lost liquidity during the pandemic if it was not for the state support, and a bulk of this support went through national development banks.

Many national and regional development banks shared their experiences in crisis support measures. President of the Islamic Development Bank Group and the current Chair of MDBs Dr. Bandar M. H. Hajjar said that his institution committed $10 billion of support as 80% of critical industries in the region of bank’s operation suffered a hit during the pandemic. Igor Shuvalov noted that during the pandemic VEB.RF revitalized its program of support for 100 biggest Russian cities (not counting Moscow and St.Petersburg) in order to help their economies by modernizing infrastructure, transportation systems and urban landscapes.

Deputy General Secretary of the UN Amina J. Mohammed noticed that the situation could be even worse if it was not for the programs provided by the national governments and in most cases distributed through the public development institutions. Development banks assisted businesses in adjusting to the new circumstances, provided liquidity, credit guarantees and subsidies, informational and other forms of support. Another important role for them is to be the frontrunners in search of new economic models, build new platforms for growth. She pointed at the necessity to mobilize private capital in support of government programs which is better done exactly through the mechanisms of public development institutions.

Other speakers ardently supported last point and shared their experiences of cooperation with private companies and institutions and outlined their view of the role of public development banks in battling the crisis.

The conference also featured Marie Lam-Frendo, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Infrastructure Hub; Marcos Troyjo, President of the New Development Bank; Stephen Groff, the Governor of Saudi Arabia National Development Fund; Patrick Dlamini, Chief Executive Officer of the Development Bank of Southern Africa; Octavio Peralta, Secretary General of the ADFIAP; Mr. Edwin Syahruzad, President Director PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur; Mario Ohoven, President of European Confederation of Associations of small and medium enterprises; Edgardo Alvarez Chávez, Secretary General of the Latin American Association of Development Financing Institutions; José Ignacio de Mendiguren, President of the Bank for Investment and Foreign Trade of Argentina; Ayman Sejiny, Chief Executive Officer of Islamic Corporation for Development; Javier Diaz Fajardo, Chief Executive Officer of the Bancóldex; Ece Börü, Chief Executive Officer of Development and Investment Bank of Turkey.