Private Eye gives evidence to MPs on the Commonweath Development Corporation
7 December 2010
NGOs, academics and investment funds will give evidence to the International Development Committee today about the future of the CDC (formerly known as the Commonwealth Development Corporation)
The CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, has faced criticism over concerns that it has become disengaged from one of its core objectives: sustainable economic development.
Witnesses
At 10.30 am
- Tom Cairnes – ManoCap (TBC)
- Sarah Bracking – University of Manchester
- Michiel Timmerman – Equity For Africa
At 11.45 am
- Penny Fowler – Oxfam
- Richard Brooks – Private Eye
The CDC was created after World War II to invest in developing countries and is wholly owned by the Department for International Development (DFID). It does not make direct investments, but instead invests with fund managers with the aim of maximising sustainable business growth and mobilising private finance.
The government has no involvement in CDC’s day-to-day decision making which is carried out by the CDC Board of executive and non-executive directors based in London. The Secretary of State for International Development proposed reforms to the CDC on 12 October 2010.