Researchers attend Conference about National Development Banks in Rio

During September 15 and 16, Economists from all over the world discussed Development Banks’ roles and their future during a Conference that took place place in Rio de Janeiro.

By
Maria Eduarda Vaz
September 22, 2016

BNDES (Brazil’s National Development Bank) Director Vinicius Carrasco and CAF’s (a Development Bank owned by 17-Latin America countries, Portugal and Spain) Director of Research Pablo Sanguinetti welcomed professors and specialists to the two-day conference held at the BNDES' headquarters in Rio.

On the first day, September 15th, Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones, Financial Markets Director in the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) at Columbia University, introduced and presented the project framework. After this opening, each one of the invited presented Case Studies on specific Development Banks from different countries. The first to speak was Rogerio Studart, Fellow at Bookings Institution and former Executive Director at World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. He discussed the case of BNDES.

After Rogerio Studart, the Professor and researcher of Economics from the Catholic University in Lima and former President of the Central Bank of Peru, Oscar Dancourt talked about the Development Bank in Peru, known as COFIDE. Professor Oscar Dancourt was followed by Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid, Professor and researcher of Development Economics at Universidad Autonoma Mexico (UNAM), and formerly CEPAL Mexico, who talked about Mexico’s NAFINSA.

Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones presented the role played by COFRO, Chile’s Development Bank. After her, the Economic Development and Institute World Economics Director and Politics in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASS), Qiyuan Xu, talked about CDC, China’s Development Bank.

At the end of the first day, all the speakers and participants participated in a round table, in which the key aspects learned were pointed out and discussed.

On the second day, September 16th, the first to speak was Peter Volberding, a visiting Fellow at Goethe University in Frankfurt and PhD candidate at Harvard University. He explained the role played by the Germany’s Development Bank KfW.

After all the specific and individual Development Banks were presented, a discussion about the counter-cyclical role of Development Banks was presented by Alfredo Schclarek, an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Universidad Nacional Cordoba, and Academic Director of CIPPES.

The last to talk in the Conference was Felipe Rezende, a Professor of the Economics Department at Hobart and William Smith College. He made a presentation about the roles of public banks in long-term funding.