What do clients really think about multilateral development banks?

Um, José Antonio, let me start with you.

You have spent decades both inside and outside these institutions, as a finance minister navigating these pressures firsthand, and then of course as the m- one of the most influential voices calling for MDB reform.

So you've seen these tensions up close, you know, rising financing needs colliding with tighter fiscal space and, and mounting debt pressures across many countries.

How well do you think the current MDB system is actually responding to that reality? Not in principle, but really i- in the way countries on the ground can genuinely access and use MDB support.

Well, I think, uh, there have been some changes, uh, uh, uh, both in The World Bank, uh, uh, but also in the case of the, uh, uh, regional development banks.

Uh, and, and of course, the... we have two new institutions, uh, which are the New Development Bank, uh, or the BRICS, and the, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

I mean, as a whole, uh, the system has been growing, uh, uh, particularly the regional banks and of course the new banks.

Uh, uh, uh, the, The World Bank has not, uh, uh, uh, since, uh, its last capitalization, uh, uh, in, uh, 2018.

But the, uh... uh, in any case, I think the process, uh, has been positive i- in that regard.

The, the, you know, the... a crucial question is of course, uh, uh, on what are the objectives and to what extent they have been reflected in the, uh, in the, in the, uh, design of the banks.

Uh, uh, and of course the, um, uh, the instruments, uh, that they have been...

And, and of course some, uh, uh, uh, we could, uh, discuss on, uh, uh, them later.

But in terms of, uh, uh, development financing, I think, uh, I mean, there are the old, uh, financing mechanism, the, the, uh, programs, uh, uh, and even before that, infrastructure financing, uh, and I think that, that has, uh, continued.

Uh, uh, the, uh...

I think the one area that, uh, was going very well, uh, but unfortunately I think, uh, is now under question, uh, is, uh, the environmental financing, uh, particularly The World Bank, which was the leader, uh, in that regard.

Uh, and whether the, under the current, uh, Trump administration, uh, they consider they can continue expanding, uh, that financing.

Uh, uh, but the, the, the growth was quite good, uh, uh, up to a couple of years ago.

Uh, and, and, and I think one area where, uh, the, uh, all of them should, uh, uh, do better, let's say, uh, is on the, on the social programs.

I mean, the, uh, including, uh, and very importantly, the, the, uh, the, the issues of regional, uh, inequalities in countries, uh, which I think is a, is a, very important.

So there is inequality among citizens and inequality among regions, and I think, uh, this is an area which, uh, uh, requires much more financing and, uh, and I think, uh, they should, uh, you know, continue.

Now, in terms of instruments, uh, of course loans, uh, continue to be the, the main mechanism.

But I think they could, uh, they, they should be more active in, uh, in guarantees, um, uh, and in, um, uh, and probably the, uh, provision of capital for new projects, uh, uh, which I think is an important point, uh, uh, so, uh, let's say for new sectors, for example, in the technology sector.