Financing and Business Opportunities

The Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are international financial institutions that promote economic and social progress in their developing member countries. Each year, the MDBs (the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) extend a combined total of almost $50 billion in loans, grants, and investments to the public and private sectors for economic and social development in developing markets.

However, many U.S. exporters are missing out on these extremely lucrative opportunities because they lack the necessary information about the projects and are unfamiliar with the MDBs and foreign government tendering procedures.

The United States plays an important role in the activities of the multilateral development banks (MDBs) and is typically the largest single shareholder, contributing generously to the development projects in the countries where the banks operate. As a result, Congress has mandated that the U.S. Department of Commerce have a Commercial Liaison Office at each of the MDBs in order to protect American commercial interests and advise U.S. firms on how to work with the MDBs, promote risk mitigation strategies for emerging market activities, and advocate on procurement and contracting issues. For additional information on MDBs, please visit: www.export.gov/advocacy.