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Tag: OPIC

 

Seven Steps to Supercharge OPIC, America’s Unsung Development Hero

12/12/12
Todd Moss

This is a joint post with Ben Leo, former CGD research fellow and now Policy Director at ONE.

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation is the best US development agency you’ve probably never heard of. Known as OPIC, it’s often mistakenly confused with the oil cartel. But if you care about promoting economic opportunity around the world, then OPIC should be on your radar. And with a few changes, the Government could make OPIC a whole lot more impactful.

Launched in 1971, OPIC leverages public money to create market opportunities and crowd-in private capital by providing insurance, loans, and seed capital for new private equity funds. Over four decades, OPIC has helped to generate nearly $200 billion in new investment, enabling US investors to enter new markets and building a private sector in support of US policy objectives. The bonus of OPIC is not only that it works, but that it comes at no cost to US taxpayers. In fact, for 34 years in a row, OPIC has generated profits and contributed funds into the US Treasury (the FY2012 budget expects a $188 million contribution).

Send Salads to Ethiopia, and Solar Panels to Senegal

12/10/12
Todd Moss

This post originally appeared on Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs' Policy Innovations blog.

Imagine the United States sending low-calorie food aid to Ethiopia in response to the global obesity epidemic. Absurd, right? Even if global waistline trends are worrisome, Ethiopians didn't create the problem. Such a policy would be futile since it would have no noticeable impact on the global aggregate.

The Next Administration Should Close Africa’s Energy Poverty Gap

9/24/12
Todd Moss

What’s going to be President Obama’s legacy on Africa?  President Clinton championed AGOA, still the core of US-Africa trade relations. President Bush built PEPFAR and the MCC.  There’s an outside chance that Feed the Future could be Obama’s lasting contribution, but I think the jury’s still out.  So what kind of big impact-big splash effort could we hope for in the next four years, from either a second Obama term or a new Romney administration?

Economic Reform and Growth in Middle East: Obama on the EBRD and Other Smart Proposals

5/20/11
Nancy Birdsall

This is a joint post with Lawrence MacDonald.

Even an avid consumer of the news and commentary on Obama’s speech on the Middle East yesterday could easily miss his proposals for supporting job-creating economic growth and development in the region. But long after we have forgotten the media bluster over a possible shift (or not!) in U.S. policy towards Israel and Palestine, the president’s seemingly modest suggestions on development just might be making a difference.

The one that intrigues me most involves putting the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to work in the Middle East and North Africa.

Development without New Money? A Proposal for a Consolidated U.S. Development Bank

4/6/11
Todd Moss

This is a joint post with Ben Leo.

In times of fiscal constraint, the U.S. Government should be maximizing those development and policy instruments that don’t require congressional appropriations. Top of this list should be the many private sector tools, such as Overseas Private Investment Corporation. OPIC not only helps to crowd-in private investment and build markets abroad, but it is a net positive for the US budget (the FY11 budget request estimates OPIC will contribute $189 million).

Two recent events make it extremely timely for senior policymakers to focus more on how to bolster and get more out of our private sector tools:

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