Development finance

The Swiss government has announced a blended finance initiative intended to leverage up to 1bn Swiss francs ($1.09bn) in private sector impact investments in the developing world to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Swedish government together with the Nordic Green Bank has launched a new facility to scale up clean cooking technologies for up to 3 million Africans.

UNOPS, the United Nations Office for Project Services, has put out an open call for investors and partners to co-design and back large-scale sustainable infrastructure projects in “emerging and frontier markets”.

In an exclusive interview Nick O’Donohoe, the CEO of CDC, the UK development finance institution, reveals details of the bank’s new strategy, a new Chair, and even a new name.

Climate Investor Two, the second blended finance climate financing fund launched by investment manager Climate Fund Managers, announced its first close at $675mn.

Although blended finance is on everyone’s lips, deal flow and transaction sizes dropped sharply in 2020, a new Convergence report finds. The industry tracker makes recommendations on how to achieve scale.

Invest International officially went live on October 1 with a low-key launch of its website. But the new government-backed Dutch investment institution has huge ambitions.

“We’re a place to look for early first ideas.” Ian de Cruz tells us how P4G has found a niche between development finance institutions (DFIs) and private capital.

Retail investors who want to invest in microfinance in emerging and developing countries can now do so through the Actam Impact Financial Inclusion Fund.

Some of the most rewarding impact investments are where traditional financiers still fear to tread. For an Expert View, we talked to TCX’s Per van Swaay about navigating the minefield of currency risk.