Time: 13:00-15:00 (GMT), Wednesday, 9 December 2020
Presenter: Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex
Chair: Professor Victor Murinde, SOAS University of London
Online venue: Click here to join the CGF Seminar Room on Microsoft Teams (For any inquiry about how to join the online seminar, please contact Dr Meng Xie: xm1@soas.ac.uk)

Abstract
In this seminar, Professor Griffith-Jones will start her presentation with a brief synthesis of the main conclusions of the recent major research conference on development banks, which she co-directed (https://www.afd.fr/en/actualites/agenda/visible-hand-development-banks-transition) and that was followed by first Summit of Public development banks. Following that, she will present her co-authored paper on business models of national development banks, with particular emphasis on the different kinds of risks that Development banks face and the best instrument they can use to maximize the sustainable and inclusive development impact of their operations, both in COVID and in normal times (https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/matching-risks-instruments-development-banks). She will conclude it by applying this analysis to development banks in Sub Saharan Africa, (both at the regional level, AfDB) and at national level, including their current roles, especially in financing infrastructure, as well as their future potential.

Presenter

Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones
Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones is Emeritus Professorial Fellow of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, Financial Markets Director of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University (part-time), and Research Associate at Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London, as well as Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), Washington DC. She conducts research and provides policy advice on international and development finance, private capital flows, especially their impact on African economies, and the role of national and regional development banks in supporting inclusive growth. She has published widely, having written or edited twenty-five books and numerous journal and other articles, and has advised many international organisations (the European Commission, the World Bank, various UN agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, DESA, ECLAC), IADB and several governments and Central Banks. She also led several major international research projects on international financial and macro-economic issues with networks of senior academics, policy-makers and bankers from developed and developing countries. She is currently co-directing research network on roles of development banks worldwide and how they can better support green recovery and transformation. Her most recent book is The Future of National Development Banks, coedited with J.A.Ocampo.