Investment Insurance and Development Impact : Evaluating MIGA's Experience

The document is an assessment of the impacts of a large sample of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) assisted investments, reflecting to various degrees, the actual impacts in the twenty seven countries it operated. However, these differences should not mask the reality that, relative to the investment-specific anticipated impacts, these investments generally met, or exceeded the original anticipated impacts. For regardless of some difficulties, and failures, the broad positive impact of these projects is evident. The present analysis both encompasses, and extends the analysis of 1998, and, represents a comprehensive evaluation of the development impacts of foreign direct investments, ever undertaken by an investment insurer, offering a research that explores the nexus between private investment, and development across multiple dimensions, and time. A description of MIGA's development mandate is offered, as described in the Agency's Convention and Operational Regulations, and a brief overview of MIGA's growth since inception is provided, highlighting the increasing regional, and sectoral diversification of its portfolio. A comparison of anticipated, vs. actual benefits for some quantitative indicators is provided, as well as an analysis of impacts within a multidimensional framework. Two case studies are presented, and the lessons learned lay the foundation for future work.