Abstract

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Global development has reached a critical turning point. In addition to achieving middle-income status, several recipient countries are now also becoming donors and lenders to other developing countries.

China in particular has rapidly expanded its development finance programme and launched new multilateral initiatives. A key example is the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a new public development bank that although has developed economies, like the UK, as members, derives most of its capital from emerging or developing economies.

The AIIB has a unique opportunity to learn from the positive experiences and mistakes of other public development banks such as the World Bank and European Investment Bank. It can also contribute to our understanding of development finance by bringing a different set of experiences and knowledge to those which underpin these institutions.