Introduction

Regional development banks have devoted much effort to mobilizing larger flows of external finance for their respective areas. By tapping world-wide savings held in the international commercial banks and investing them in viable, export-oriented schemes, the less developed countries can aspire to a faster rate of economic growth, the benefits of which could improve the welfare of hundreds of millions of people in the Third World. Since the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, banks and bankers have played a crucial role not only in the development of their own countries but also in that of foreign lands. Their importance in domestic financial intermediation has long been recognized in both theory and economic policy, but their potential for transferring resources internationally from surplus to deficit countries has until recently been largely ignored. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.