The chimera of private finance for development

Ten years ago world leaders agreed on 17 sustainable development goals (sdgs), from ending hunger to ensuring decent work for all. An ensuing conference in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, had the harder task of working out how to pay for them. The World Bank and other multilateral lenders talked of turning “billions to trillions”. One idea was that small dollops of public money could spur much larger flows of private capital. The pensions and insurance premiums of the rich would build roads and power plants for the poor.