Corporate Evaluation: Evaluation of Guarantee Instruments at the IDB Group

This evaluation reviews the experience of the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) with using medium- and long-term guarantees to support its clients during the period 2005 to 2020. This is the first evaluation by the Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE) of the guarantee instrument - an instrument that has the potential to mobilize private resources and has been in the tool kit of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) since its establishment (see IDB, 1996). The evaluation is delivered at a time when the IDB Group and its borrowers are looking for innovative ways to mobilize additional financing to confront the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, and to comply with the Paris Agreement. The From Billions to Trillions initiative prepared jointly by several multilateral development banks (MDBs) aims to mobilize private financing for these goals (AfDB et al., 2015). This evaluation examines the extent to which the IDB Group has used guarantees to mobilize private resources and identifies the main challenges to the use of long- and medium-term guarantees. The focus is on guarantees as an instrument, and thus the evaluation does not assess the outcomes of projects and programs financed using guarantees.