IFC
- Score:
- 54.4
- Position:
- 1 / 21
Overview
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is a member of the World Bank Group. It is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in emerging and developing economies. IFC became a member of IATI in 2017 and first published IATI data that same year.
Analysis
IFC achieved the highest overall score for transparency in our non-sovereign assessment with a score of 54.4 out of 100. IFC consistently scored relatively highly across each of the index components meaning it was the only institution to score in the top five for each of the five components. It is a publisher to the IATI Standard and has a free, bulk export available for its investment database.
IFC came second in the Core Information component of the non-sovereign assessment with a score of 15.58 out of 20. IFC performed strongly in the breadth, quality, and accessibility of its data. It published data for all indicators apart from disbursements and published all applicable indicators to the IATI Standard. However, it did not score points for the following data points as it did not consistently disclose data for its projects: sub-national location, domicile, total investment cost, funding source, and last update date.
IFC came joint third in the Impact Management component with a score of 11.75 out of 25. It scored for all organisation-level questions apart from its approach to determining impact attribution. It was one of five non-sovereign DFIs to score for additionality statement, but did not score for activity indicators/metrics and results.
IFC came top of the ESG and Accountability to Communities component with a score of 18.33 out of 30. It scored for all organisation-level indicators apart from independent accountability mechanism (IAM) community disclosure policy. IFC scored the highest out of the non-sovereign DFIs for project-level indicators in this component. It disclosed the summary of E&S risks indicator both to its website and to the IATI Standard. Although IFC revealed what E&S documents were produced for projects, it did not disclose them consistently enough to score higher.
IFC scored 2.5 out of 15 in the Financial Information component, which was joint second. It scored for the financial reports/statements indicator and was one of only two non-sovereign DFI to score for both questions of the concessionality indicator. However, it did not score for any other project-level indicator in this component.
IFC topped the Financial Intermediary (FI) Sub-investments component with a score of 6.25 out of 10. It was the only DFI to score for every indicator of the component. Indicators in which they scored significantly more than other institutions include FI sub-investment policy and FI (bank) sub-investments. In the case of the former, IFC differentiates itself from other DFIs by having clearly defined sectors of activity for on-lending activities. In the case of the latter, IFC was the only DFI in our assessment who was found to disclose the identity of FI sub-investments from bank investments.
Recommendations
- IFC should consistently publish Core Information data including sub-national location, domicile of investee, total investment cost, funding source, and last update date. It should also disclose disbursement data for its investments.
- IFC should update its access to information policy to enshrine current disclosure commitments (blended finance and FI disclosure in particular). It should also review the exceptions articles and include an objective harm test for confidentiality of information provided by third parties.
- It should publish project-level impact data, including activity indicators/metrics and results (baselines, targets, and actuals).
- IFC should publish all E&S documents for investments that have them, including the minimum documentation for higher risk projects.
- It should consistently provide assurance of community disclosure for investments when disclosure is required.
- IFC should create a policy guiding the disclosure of the presence of the IAM at community level.
- It should consistently publish financial information for its investments including for the repeat investment, currency of investment, co-financing, mobilisation, and instrument-specific disclosure (share of equity, interest rate, and loan tenor) indicators.