Multilateral or bilateral engagement: International organizations and the United States
Nick K. Kolev
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 10 | March/April 2025
This paper analyzes how the United States may set objectives and constraints as it chooses between multilateral and bilateral engagement.
Read the paper →Why Ukraine needs a first-rate national development bank
Nick K. Kolev | Jonathan Stilwell
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 9 | January/February 2024
This paper argues that Ukraine needs a first-rate national development bank, modeled on KfW and grounded in the experience of post-war Germany and the IBRD.
Read the paper →A sustainable MDB strategy: The crucial importance of financial sector development
Nick K. Kolev | Jonathan Stilwell
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 8 | May 2023
This paper argues that de-risking on concessional terms is unlikely to prove sustainable, and that building competitive and stable financial systems in developing countries is the more durable MDB contribution.
Read the paper →The case for high quality productive assets in an era of increasing government debt distress
Jonathan Stilwell | Nick K. Kolev
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 8 | November/December 2023
This paper examines how rising government debt service crowds out private credit, and makes the case for liquid markets in high quality productive assets.
Read the paper →Blended Finance: The case for realism and reform
Nick K. Kolev | Amil Aneja
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 10 | September/October 2025
This paper examines the fundamental hurdles that inhibit the growth of Blended Finance, from unclear development impact to precarious legal forms.
Read the paper →A global blended concessional finance hub
Nick K. Kolev | Jonathan Stilwell
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 9 | March/April 2024
This paper proposes pooling donor concessional resources in a single hub, arguing that Structured Solutions and Capital Markets capabilities determine the scale of Blended Finance.
Read the paper →Converting speculative-grade exposure into investment-grade exposure
Nick K. Kolev
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 10 | July/August 2025
This paper outlines a methodology for converting speculative-grade exposure into investment-grade exposure through the notes of triple-A rated DFIs and MDBs.
Read the paper →Facilitating local capital market development through swap counterparty support
Nick K. Kolev | Jonathan Stilwell
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 10 | January/February 2025
This paper proposes a collaborative structure among MDBs, insurers, and local banks that manages currency risk while developing local capital markets.
Read the paper →Rational pricing in local currency non-sovereign lending
Nick K. Kolev
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 10 | May/June 2025
This paper proposes a rational pricing approach under which local currency loans are priced in local currency, keeping non-sovereign operations additional and non-distortionary.
Read the paper →A sovereign debt restructuring mechanism for developing countries
Nick K. Kolev | Jonathan Stilwell
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 8 | September/October 2023
This paper proposes a restructuring mechanism that converts distressed dollar-settled sovereign debt into local currency exposure through non-deliverable swaps, without collateral or new IFI loans.
Read the paper →How Equity Capital Markets Can Promote FDI in LDCs
Nick K. Kolev
Published by Convergence
This paper argues that public equity capital markets, offering transparency, price discovery, and liquidity, are vital to the endeavors of LDCs to attract FDI.
Read the paper →Pricing Development Assets in Non-Sovereign Guaranteed Operations
Nick K. Kolev
Published by Convergence
This paper proposes a formal foundation for donation, concessionality, and the segmentation between commercial and development markets.
Read the paper →Additionality by Design, Not Assertion: From Opaque Concessionality to Credible Mobilization
Nick Kolev | Amil Aneja
This is Article 1 of ‘The Great Development Finance Write-Off’ series.
This paper argues that Additionality alone cannot guarantee optimality, and that donation accounting shifts priorities from volume approved to impact delivered.
Read the paper →From Donations to Discount Rates: Aligning Commercial and Development Markets
Nick Kolev | Amil Aneja
This is Article 2 of ‘The Great Development Finance Write-Off’ series.
This paper shows how a Ministry of Finance can tag grant-equivalents in the budget, integrate concessionality into fiscal planning, and steer development institutions through donation metrics.
Read the paper →Blended Finance Structures Without Unwarranted Fiduciary Drag
Nick Kolev | Amil Aneja
This is Article 3 of ‘The Great Development Finance Write-Off’ series.
This paper shows that bankability is not viability, and how concessionality transfers value among the investors in a Blended Finance structure.
Read the paper →Concessional Credit, Latent Risks, and Policy Transmission
Nick Kolev | Amil Aneja
This is the final article of ‘The Great Development Finance Write-Off’ series.
This paper argues that masked concessionality distorts capital requirements and policy transmission, and proposes prudential rules that separate market exposure from concessional elements.
Read the paper →Aligning MDB shareholders’ interests: callable capital, preferred creditor status, and sustainable creditor status
Nick K. Kolev
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 10 | November/December 2025
This paper proposes releasing the accumulated callable capital of borrowing member countries, converting preferred creditor treatment into preferred creditor status, and establishing sustainable creditor status.
Read the paper →Bolstering sovereign debt sustainability: Integrating EMDE banks in the debt issuance and swap trading activities of MDBs
Nick K. Kolev | Amil Aneja
Development Finance Agenda | Volume 11 | September/October 2026
This paper describes Spartacus, an initiative that strengthens sovereign debt sustainability by integrating EMDE banks in the debt issuance and swap trading activities of triple-A MDBs.
Read the paper →Incorporating Currency in Portfolio Choice
Nick K. Kolev
Draft v2.2 | August 21, 2026
This paper proposes a portfolio choice model that restores currency to the standard one-period problem and discounts every payoff by the price level.
Read the paper →Blended Finance: An Uneasy Balance Between Bankability and Viability
Nick K. Kolev
Published on LinkedIn | August 25, 2025
This article examines how concessionality affects the financial sustainability of Blended Finance vehicles by distinguishing bankability from viability.
Read the article →Pricing in Sovereign Guaranteed Operations: Methodology and Fairness
Nick K. Kolev
Published on LinkedIn | September 6, 2025
This article argues that MDB pricing based on borrowing costs treats member countries unequally and proposes a proportional discount as an equal incentive to borrow.
Read the article →Global Solidarity Subject to Donor Constraints: The Role of International Financial Institutions
Nick K. Kolev
Published on LinkedIn | October 30, 2025
This article argues that development impact, not official development assistance, is what global solidarity should maximize, with ODA forecast subject to donor constraints.
Read the article →