Devex: Opinion: Four things to get right about U.S. blended finance
Brigit Helms, development finance professional

“…The prospect of a new United States development finance institution (USDFI) and the pivot toward ‘blended finance’ are two of the hottest topics [in the development community in Washington, D.C.] … Blended finance — using concessional resources to catalyze commercial funding for riskier and/or longer-term opportunities — has been around for a long time, but now new players are entering the fray, including the U.S. Agency for International Development. The scale now is much bigger than ever before. … Given the scale and promise of the opportunity at hand, there are four [areas] we need to get right. 1. Institutional blending … 2. Mind-melding … 3. Risk appetite … 4. Over-blending … If we can get these and other questions ironed out, we will be better able to offer a whole-of-government approach that equips the U.S. government and its partners overseas to bring the right instruments to the right problems at the right time…” (4/27).