GEMs publishes a new report on recovery rates for private and sub-sovereign borrowers in emerging markets

The Global Emerging Markets Risk Database (GEMs) Consortium has published for the first time the recovery rates of investments with private and sub-sovereign borrowers in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) for the period 1994-2022. The statistics are collected from the group of 19 multilateral development banks and development finance institutions that are members of the GEMs Consortium and are available online for free on the GEMs website (gemsriskdatabase.org).

The new report is the result of the consortium’s continued effort and commitment to provide, to a wider audience, statistics based on the GEMs database to support investments in emerging markets and complements the well-received default statistics reports published in the fourth quarter of 2023, also available on the GEMs website. Going forward, GEMs will publish default and recovery statistics on a regular basis. GEMs is working with all members of the consortium to publish additional statistics that could provide information and confidence to the private sector for investing in emerging markets.

Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank, which hosts the GEMs Secretariat in Luxembourg said: “The GEMs Consortium, co-founded by the EIB and the World Bank Group, is an example of how we can have a far greater impact when we work together. The publication today and sharing of information with public and private sector partners is a direct response to the call by the G20 for International Financial Institutions to support reform of the financial system by sharing data and expertise more widely. I’m hopeful that this first important step will help us all to drive transformative investments in emerging markets and developing economies.”

The availability of the GEMs statistics will provide deeper insights into markets where it is difficult to find reliable credit information. They will also help to support the mobilisation of private investments in emerging markets, addressing one of the key recommendations of the G20. The GEMs Consortium will continue working on further methodological refinements and data enrichment to provide in the near future an even wider range of statistics and details.

About GEMs

GEMs, the Global Emerging Markets Risk Database Consortium, is one of the largest credit risk databases for the emerging markets operations of its member institution - multilateral development banks and development finance institutions. It pools anonymized data on credit defaults on the loans extended by consortium members, the migrations of their clients’ credit rating and the recoveries on defaulted projects in emerging markets and developing economies, thus providing members with an insight into geographies that are otherwise relatively poorly served in terms of empirical credit information.

GEMs was established in 2009 as a bilateral initiative between the European Investment Bank and the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group). Since then, the GEMs consortium has grown to include 25 members: African Development Bank (AfDB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB), Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD), British International Investment (BII), Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank Group (EIB), GuarantCo, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Inter-American Investment Corporation (IDB Invest), International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), New Development Bank (NDB), Proparco, and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).