In the first quarter of 2026, the Public Development Banks (PDBs) and Development Financing Institutions (DFIs) database added 13 new public development financial institutions, with their basic information and financial data for fiscal years 2018 to 2024 collected. To date, the total number of public development banks and development financing institutions included in the global database has increased from 544 to 557, covering 155 countries and economies with active public development banks and development financing institutions. Their combined total assets reached about 23 trillion US dollars in 2024 — the latest fiscal year for which data is available in the database.

New Additions

After discerning potential eligible institutions from sources such as official website of U.S. Green Bank 50 (GB 50), a research team led by Peking University (PKU), in collaboration with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Fondation pour les Études et Recherches sur le Développement International (FERDI), conducted an individual screening and assessment process for each candidate institution. Basic profiles and relevant financial data have been collected for those institutions that meet the database inclusion criteria. A total of 13 institutions have been identified in this round. Basic information about these institutions is provided below:

No.	Code	PDB&DFI Name	Country	Levels of Ownership	Official Mandate	2024 Total Assets (Millions USD)
1	US19721	Environmental Improvement and   Energy Resources Authority	USA	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	2
2	US19921	New Hampshire Business Finance   Authority	USA	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	NA
3	US19741	New Jersey Economic Development   Authority	USA	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	2,189
4	US19742	Vermont Economic Development   Authority	USA	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	337
5	KW19731	The Industrial Bank of Kuwait	Kuwait	NATIONAL	FLEX	2,643
6	US19971	Atlanta Development Authority	USA	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	1,261
7	US20031	Illinois Finance Authority	USA	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	1,893
8	US20081	Maryland Clean Energy Center	USA	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	66
9	JP20082	Japan Finance Organization for   Municipalities	Japan	SUBNATIONAL	LOCAL	159,388
10	CN19791	The Export-Import Bank of the   Republic of China (Taiwan)	P. R. China	SUBNATIONAL	EXIM	6,515
11	ZA19951	Free State Development Corporation	South Africa	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	NA
12	ZA20081	KwaZulu-Natal Growth Fund Agency	South Africa	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	80
13	ZA20101	Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency	South Africa	SUBNATIONAL	FLEX	NA

(Please refer to the official PDB and DFI database for more detail.)

To verify the potential inclusions and ensure the accuracy of the list updates on PDBs and DFIs, we implemented three rounds of quality control. In the first round of quality control, our research specialists conducted thorough investigations and documented detailed supporting evidence by strictly applying operational indicators of the following five qualification criteria:

1) Being a standalone entity.

2) Providing fund-reflow-seeking financial instruments as the main products and services.

3) Funding sources going beyond periodic budgetary transfers.

4) Having a proactive public policy orientation.

5) Government steering of corporate strategies.

In the second round of quality control, a peer senior researcher rigorously reviewed the supporting evidence to ensure the accuracy of the identification for each included institution. In the final round of quality control, (co-) principal investigators from the PKU, AFD, and FERDI team provided the ultimate verification of the updates on the PDBs and DFIs database.

In the meantime, the collection of basic information and relevant financial indicators for fiscal years 2018–2024 has been completed for the newly added institutions in this round. The quality control procedures applied during the data collection phase are consistent with those used in the qualification assessment process, both adopting a three-round quality control mechanism to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the collected data.

Database Regional Classification Adjustment

In accordance with the latest UN Statistics Division M49 Standard (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/), one update to regional classifications has been implemented in the database to align with official United Nations geoscheme:

The former Pacific Islands sub-region has been restructured into three distinct sub-regions: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. All relevant national and subnational institutions have been reclassified accordingly.

Forthcoming Steps

The database team will continue to uphold a rigorous, pragmatic and proactive work ethic, regularly updating the list of PDBs and DFIs and rigorously collecting the data on institutional basic information and core financial indicators.

Drawing on the primary data resources of this database, the team will also actively conduct academic and policy research in the field of public development finance. This will provide robust support for evidence-based decision-making and steady progress in advancing the sustainable development agenda.

To learn more, please visit our data visualization website (http://www.dfidatabase.pku.edu.cn/) to register and download the database for free.

For using the information from the database, please cite: Xu, Jiajun, Régis Marodon, Xinshun Ru, Xiaomeng Ren, and Xinyue Wu. 2021. “What are Public Development Banks and Development Financing Institutions? ——Qualification Criteria, Stylized Facts and Development Trends.” China Economic Quarterly International, volume 1, issue 4: 271-294; database DOI: https://doi.org/10.18170/DVN/VLG6SN.

We welcome feedback from academia, policymakers, practitioners from PDBs and DFIs, and other stakeholders to provide constructive suggestions and fill gaps in the database. Please contact us at nsedfi@nsd.pku.edu.cn.