DFI Transparency Index reveals a lack of transparency among leading development finance institutions
Publish What You Fund has just released the results of the 2023 DFI Transparency Index, the first ranking of the world’s leading Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). Key findings include:
• Overall, DFIs are not transparent enough. This is especially the case for non-sovereign (private sector) operations.
• DFIs are not providing evidence of impact, data regarding mobilisation, or proof of accountability to communities.
• For many DFIs basic information about their investments is not publicly available.
• But progress is being made – use of and adherence to the standards laid out in the DFI Transparency Tool are guiding the efforts of leading DFIs who have improved their disclosure over the last two years.
• The International Finance Corporation (IFC) was ranked as the most transparent non-sovereign DFI, scoring 54.4 out of 100.
• The Asian Development Bank (AsDB) was ranked as the most transparent DFI in the analysis of sovereign (public sector) operations, scoring 75.9 out of 100.
The Index report makes five main recommendations for DFIs to improve their transparency:
• Report impact data
• Publish disaggregated mobilisation data
• Improve transparency around assurance of disclosure to project affected people
• Disclose high risk financial intermediary sub-investments
• Increase standardisation of data