Private finance can make an important contribution to development, but mobilisation is not the ultimate objective. The more important questions are what changes, for whom, whether public support was genuinely necessary, and whether finance builds stronger local markets and institutions.
In my first major insight as Head of ODI Global’s Centre for Private Finance in Development, I set out four areas that will guide our work: development impact, domestic capital markets and local-currency finance, institutional incentives, and the effectiveness of financial instruments.