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Anissa Bougrea

@anissabougrea.bsky.social

240 followers 52 following 32 posts

Slowly testing out this new horizon 🦋 PhD Fellow at @GIESGhent on Private Finance for #EUdev #IPE. (Ex-)Journalist. Decolonizing The University: https://open.spotify.com/show/1LV10lE8QMFEkVBvw2dIUp?si=GaEzEhY3QL28gXJM2AVJkA

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Dec 12

Happy to (re-)share my first solo-authored article: "The European Investment Bank in Sub-Saharan Africa: Constrained Expansion" published in the Journal of Economic Policy Reform!🎉It examines the @eib.org strategic & operational dynamics in Africa. Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

10/ Enormous thanks to the brilliant experts and colleagues who shared insights and feedback along the way. Read it here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Rolling out the Wall Street Consensus? Multilateral development banks and the trilemma of private capital mobilization - Anissa Bougrea, Mattias Vermeiren, 2025

This article offers the first comprehensive account of the challenges Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) face in implementing the Wall Street Consensus, a fi...

journals.sagepub.com

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

9/ Our analysis draws on:
📃200+ policy docs from CGD & ODI
📄100+ shareholder statements
🗨️ 24 elite interviews with MDB staff & policymakers
📊 New data on derisking practices and capital mobilisation flows

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

8/ We argue that the future of the Maximising Finance for Development (MFD) agenda is more open and contested than assumed. With China's rise, US desire to transform MDBs business models faces strong political and geopolitical resistance.

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

7/ So where's the momentum now?
Not toward securitisation, but capital adequacy reforms (CAF) and proposals to leverage/strengthen the traditional MDB business model: borrowing cheaply and lending to governments in the Global South.

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

6/ Why not shift to portfolio derisking? Because MDBs would lose:
- Preferred creditor status on their sovereign loans
- Top credit ratings
- Control over development goals
Ang there's little shareholder consensus or expert support for such a transformation.

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

5/ We distinguish between project derisking (common but small-scale) and portfolio derisking (what institutional investors want; liquid, standardised assets). MDBs mostly do the former. The latter would require overhauling their business model.

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

4/ Much of the WSC literature assumes MDBs are moving toward large-scale securitisation, or an "originate-to-distribute" model. Our findings challenge this: MDBs remain locked in an "originate-and-hold" logic, due to institutional and political constraints.

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

3/ We ask: why? And argue they face a trilemma:
🔺Scale up external finance
🔺Derisk private finance
🔺Preserve their traditional business model
Only 2 of these 3 can be achieved at once.

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

2/ But a decade later, MDBs have mobilised little private capital. With most of it directed toward middle income countries, neglecting those who need it most.

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

1/ Since the 2015 Addis Ababa conference, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have embraced a new orthodoxy: mobilise private capital by "derisking" investment. This is the essence of the Wall Street Consensus (WSC), a financialised vision of development.

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jul 29

🚨New article out with @mattvermeir.bsky.social in @compchange.bsky.social: "Rolling out the Wall Street Consensus? MDBs & the Trilemma of Private Capital Mobilization"
We examine why MDBs are failing to deliver on the promise of "mobilizing trillions" for the SDGs👇
Here:

Rolling out the Wall Street Consensus? Multilateral development banks and the trilemma of private capital mobilization - Anissa Bougrea, Mattias Vermeiren, 2025

This article offers the first comprehensive account of the challenges Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) face in implementing the Wall Street Consensus, a fi...

journals.sagepub.com

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Apr 14

Save the date! We’re hosting Prof. @alimeghji.bsky.social for a workshop on decolonising the academy: "Decolonisation or Diversion? Resisting Empire in the Academy"
🗓 May 15, 2025
🕙 10:00–11:30 | UFO T1 Aud B
🔗 Register: event.ugent.be/registration...

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Apr 11

As the world prepares for the 4th UN Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, I wanted to share a few reflections I brought into recent discussions on Belgium’s positioning. Read here: anissabougrea.com/2025/04/10/n...

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Apr 7

“What does the EU-OACPS Samoa Agreement entail regarding ‘investments’ in/for Africa?”, even more so in the context of (1) geopolitization and (2) financialization, within EU development finance. We identify a shift from traditional “aid and trade” relationships to investment-centred collaboration.

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Apr 7

What started in the first year of my PhD, is now out, at the end of my journey, as a chapter: "Development Finance in EU-OACPS Relations
From Wall Street to Schuman Square?" in 'Africa, the EU and the Samoa Agreement'.

www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

Development Finance in EU-OACPS Relations | 3 | From Wall Street to Sc

This chapter critically evaluates the geopolitical and financialized dynamics of EU-Africa relations, centring on the reformed European Financial Architecture

www.taylorfrancis.com

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Apr 7

On boundaries, softness, and the ethics of self-containment. “We live in an age of emotional polarisation. People are trying, often desperately, to curate emotional safety in a world that no longer offers much of it systemically.”

aaanyssa.substack.com/p/on-boundar...

On boundaries, softness, and the ethics of self-containment

The ethical anxiety of (self-)care

aaanyssa.substack.com

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Mar 12

Grateful for #ISA2025 -presented on the EIB in Africa (available here: www.tandfonline.com/toc/gpre20/2...). Amid Chicago's windy charm & broader attacks on academic freedom, we silently disrupted the president’s address, urging democratization & recognition of scholasticide and genocide.

Reposted by Anissa Bougrea

Dr Amal Abu-Bakare @nawalabu72.bsky.social · Mar 4

The president’s address at @isanet.bsky.social was peacefully disrupted to draw institutional attention to the issue of democratisation in ISA governance and the acknowledgement of scholasticide in how we conduct research ‘as normal’ #isa2025

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Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Mar 3

Excited to be at #ISA2025 again to catch up with so many colleagues. Find me on Wednesday, presenting on (1) the European Investment Bank’s activities in Africa and (2) coloniality of EU funding & financing to Africa. Also very welcome to discuss the coloniality of dev practices.

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jan 16

ECHO's concerns are v valid. #Devfinance needs accountability, not austerity. Reallocating funds to #GlobalGateway and blended (/private) finance isn't just a (geo)strategy, it’s a gamble. "Fragile" countries and the HDP nexus bear the brunt, with little (no?) evidence that these tools work.

Vince Chadwick @vchadw.bsky.social · Jan 16

And a rare, fruitful Access to Information request, showing how hard the EU's humanitarian aid department tried to resist their development colleagues' approach to implementing last year's cuts to the EU development budget.

www.devex.com/news/reveale...

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jan 16

Al op 15 oktober 2023, nog eens op 15 januari 2025, en vele keren ertussenin: Boycot Israel en stop de genocide. Nu nog luider: www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/20...

6.600 professoren en studenten roepen op tot academische boycot van Israël, ook Petra De Sutter en Rudi Vranckx bij ondertekenaars

www.vrt.be

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jan 8

The Reversal of Financial Flows and the Limits of the Global Financial Architecture

In 2023, the global financial system witnessed a striking reversal. For the first time in over a decade, lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) experienced negative net financial flows on external debt,…

The Reversal of Financial Flows and the Limits of the Global Financial Architecture

In 2023, the global financial system witnessed a striking reversal. For the first time in over a decade, lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) experienced negative net financial flows on external debt, amounting to -$7 billion. The reversal of financial flows from lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to developed countries, is a moment of reckoning for global development finance. (Source image: …

anissabougrea.com

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jan 8

2023 marks a historic shift in LMICs’ external #debt, with net transfers reversing to -$7B. Often cited to refute critiques of systemic exploitation, positive net transfers are now obsolete. The Global North now -directly- extracts resources from the Global South. findevlab.org/the-pain-of-...

The pain of a high-interest rate environment: 5 lessons from the new world bank debt statistics

Five lessons from the new World Bank debt statistics READ THE NOTE The latest International Debt Statistics have been released last month and provide a

findevlab.org

Anissa Bougrea @anissabougrea.bsky.social · Jan 8

Deze ochtend om 5:10 hebben Bel20-CEO's in 4,69 werkdagen al evenveel verdiend als een modale werknemer in een jaar. #graaidag Een inkomenskloof van 51.14x, die de noodzaak blootlegt om de loonnormwet kritisch te herzien. www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20250...

Ceo’s verdienen in minder dan vijf dagen een jaarloon

De ceo’s van grote ondernemingen zullen woensdag evenveel verdiend hebben als de modale werknemer in een jaar.

www.standaard.be

Reposted by Anissa Bougrea

Grace Blakeley @graceblakeley.substack.com · Dec 27

I want to hear about your organising wins ✊

Your submissions will contribute to global research on collective power that will be made available for other organisers to draw on.

Fill out this form and forward to fellow organisers!
forms.gle/g7KJkGCQBXC2...

Organising wins ✊

If you're involved in the labour movement, a social movement, a co-operative, or any form of community organising, you can use this form to describe your organising wins. Your submissions will contr...

forms.gle

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