OPIC Announces $3.8 Billion in New Commitments in Fiscal Year 2017

December 19, 2017

(OPIC)

  • Agency marks 40th straight year operating at no net cost to taxpayers, generating income for deficit reduction.
  • Global portfolio reaches a record $23.2 billion.
  • Strong focus on investing in women, U.S. foreign policy, and American business.
WASHINGTON – The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) today announced it committed $3.8 billion in financing and insurance across 111 new projects in fiscal year 2017 to support economic development in emerging markets. OPIC’s global portfolio reached a record $23.2 billion, across 90 developing countries.

OPIC, the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, marked the 40th straight year as a self-sustaining U.S. Agency that operates at no net cost to taxpayers and generates money for deficit reduction. In 2017 OPIC generated $262 million for the U.S. Treasury. That works out to more than $965,000 per employee, based on OPIC’s 271-member staff. Over OPIC's history, the agency has generated $8.6 billion for deficit reduction.

“OPIC’s growing portfolio and our financial success underscore the strength of our model of investing in development. The projects we support are having a tangible, positive impact in people’s lives around the world, while supporting American business and U.S. foreign policy objectives, and generating financial returns,” said Ray W. Washburne, OPIC President and Chief Executive Officer.

Highlights from 2017 include:

A strong focus on American foreign policy priorities. In 2017, OPIC was an active investor in conflict-affected regions from the Middle East to Latin America’s Northern Triangle to Eastern Europe. Shortly after being confirmed as OPIC President, Ray Washburne traveled to Ukraine on his first official delegation, where he reiterated OPIC’s support for the region. OPIC later committed political risk insurance to a project that will bolster energy security in Ukraine through the construction of a nuclear fuel storage facility in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Currently about one-third of OPIC’s global portfolio is in conflict-affected regions. OPIC’s strong focus on these regions underscores it’s understanding that stable economies promote stable societies.

A commitment to investing in the world’s women. The global female economy represents a market that is more than two times the size of India and China combined. In 2017, OPIC committed to multiple projects in increase support for women in the developing world and unlock the multi-trillion dollar investment opportunity they represent. New projects committed to empower female entrepreneurs include financing to India’s Yes Bank for lending to women-owned small and medium businesses, and financing to Mongolia’s XacBank to support female entrepreneurs in that country.

Ongoing support for American businesses in emerging markets. In 2017 OPIC worked to help American businesses of all sizes invest in emerging markets to bring innovative solutions to major world challenges from poverty to insufficient electricity, while also helping these businesses enter some of the world’s fastest-growing markets. OPIC’s American business partners include AES Corporation of Arlington, Virginia, which is helping build a 100 MW solar plant in El Salvador, and Noble Energy of Houston, which is developing the Leviathan oil and gas field that will transform the energy landscape in the Middle East.

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