About DFIs

European DFIs


A strong private sector is a driver for economic development. Businesses need funding to grow and contribute to their local environment and communities.

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) are specialised development organisations that are usually majority owned by national governments. DFIs invest in private sector projects in low- and middle-income countries to promote job creation and sustainable economic growth. They apply stringent investment criteria aimed at safeguarding financial sustainability, transparency, and environmental and social accountability.

DFIs can be bilateral, serving to implement their government’s foreign development and cooperation policy, or multilateral, acting as private sector arms of International Finance Institutions (IFIs) established by more than one country.

DFIs source their capital from national or international development funds or benefit from government guarantees which ensures their credit-worthiness. The financial support they bring to relatively high-risk projects helps mobilise the involvement of private capital, bringing in such diverse actors as commercial banks, investment funds or private businesses and companies.

The Center for Strategic International Studies, or CSIS, in partnership with EDFI, wrote in 2016 a report on trends in development finance for the private sector. This report is the result of a research project that has looked at the role DFIs play in the new global development policy landscape. It explores the significant shifts that have taken place while also looking at where DFIs fit in this evolving architecture. You can read and download the report here.

EDFI, the association of 15 european bilateral development finance institutions

Several multilateral DFIs work at regional level such as the African Development Bank (AFDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European development Bank for reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European investment Bank (EIB) and, at global level, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).