The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Board of Directors has approved investments this quarter totaling more than $2.5 billion across nine projects that will advance development in Africa, Latin America, and emerging markets across the globe.
An additional 30 investments totaling more than $1 billion were approved by the agency since its last quarterly Board meeting in June, bringing total investments approved over the quarter to more than $3.6 billion.
“The investments approved mark the culmination of an exceptionally impactful quarter,” said DFC Chief Executive Officer Adam Boehler. “DFC’s work over the past three months will unlock billions of dollars in some of the world’s most impoverished countries. These projects will help stabilize communities across the world and prepare them to thrive in the years ahead. I am extremely proud of the DFC team and grateful to our agency’s many partners for their continued leadership in the face of the pandemic.”
The Board meeting included the approval of two transactions totaling $1.7 billion that will help transform Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world. Several investments will also channel desperately needed capital into the hands of small business owners and other underserved borrowers in the wake of COVID-19, including in several markets across the Western Hemisphere that have been severely impacted by the pandemic.
The past quarter saw DFC continue to bring its investment tools to tackle complex development challenges, including through the first transactions structured by DFC’s Mission Transaction Unit—composed of staff from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s former Development Credit Authority—which will bring needed capital to fragile states in Africa’s Sahel region. Other investments approved advance DFC’s foreign policy mandate, from strengthening energy security in Ukraine by facilitating increased energy imports from the United States to supporting investments in critical minerals.
Many of the approved investments advance DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative and the Administration’s broader Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP). The investments also support the agency’s Portfolio for Impact and Innovation (PI2), Health and Prosperity Initiative, and Connect Africa initiative as well as the Administration’s Prosper Africa and América Crece initiatives.
More than 60 percent of investments approved by DFC this quarter are in low- and lower-middle-income countries.
Original source: DFC
