A group of 30 multilateral development banks and finance institutions has launched joint methodologies to measure, and eventually increase, capital directed to emerging markets. The initiative updates the group’s mobilization rules for the first time since 2018 and is part of a years-long G20-backed effort to help development banks attract more private funding. The push has grown more urgent because developing countries’ financing needs exceed public lending and aid budgets, while many Western governments have shifted spending toward defence and other domestic priorities. The group includes the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Inter-American Development Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The guidelines seek to recognize financing raised through collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and significant risk transfers (SRTs), which transfer credit risk to private investors and can release lenders’ capital without expanding their balance sheets. The EBRD launched a 1 billion euro SRT in May, calling it a major milestone. The World Bank said earlier this month that it attracted $112 billion in private capital in the year ended June, up 60% year on year and more than three times the amount in fiscal 2022.