When risk is reality - How business is rewriting the rules of mitigation

WASHINGTON — The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is an international financial institution which offers political risk insurance and credit enhancement guarantees to help investors protect foreign direct investments against political and non-commercial risks in developing countries. MIGA is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington. It was established in 1988 as an investment insurance facility to encourage confident investment in developing countries.

Here, Petal Jean Hackett, an Economist in the Economics and Sustainability Group of MIGA, responds to a series of questions from ATI on current investor sentiment. She says recent surveys suggest that macro-economic conditions and political risk are today the major concerns of investors, outstripping such issues as market risk and access to finance.  Investors polled in a MIGA-EIU Investor Survey, she says, identify a number of risk mitigation techniques,
including investing gradually to develop familiarity with the local environment, forming joint ventures, and engaging with host country governments . . .