Table of Contents
In 2025, as foreign investment into developing economies stalled and finance gaps widened, MIGA helped de-risk private capital at scale so it could flow where it is needed most. In a year marked by flat FDI and mounting climate and trade shocks, MIGA and the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform used guarantees more strategically to narrow the finance gap and support climate, trade, and gender goals.
In 2025, as foreign investment into developing economies stalled and finance gaps widened, MIGA helped de-risk private capital at scale so it could flow where it is needed most. In a year marked by flat FDI and mounting climate and trade shocks, MIGA and the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform used guarantees more strategically to narrow the finance gap and support climate, trade, and gender goals.
Steep finance gaps, rising needs
Businesses and individuals in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) continued to struggle in 2025 to gain access to the finance they need to grow, flourish, create jobs, and reduce poverty. Â
Foreign direct investment into developing economies was broadly flat in the first half of 2025, though trends diverged by region. Inflows grew slightly in the Asia and Latin American and Caribbean regions, but fell 42 percent in Africa from the previous year. The latest IFC–World Bank MSME Finance Gap Report (March 2025) estimated that across 119 EMDEs, there is a finance gap of about $5.7 trillion, equivalent to 19 percent of GDP and 20 percent of total private sector credit.
Against this backdrop, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) continued to unlock much needed private capital and cross-border investment into EMDEs to provide financing to small businesses and individuals.
The year brought $6.5 billion in new MIGA guarantees and another $2 billion in guarantees issued by other World Bank Group institutions through the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, which is housed at and overseen by MIGA. These guarantees enabled private investment into countries and regions that might otherwise be unable to attract it.
In 2025, as foreign investment into developing economies stalled and finance gaps widened, MIGA helped de-risk private capital at scale so it could flow where it is needed most. In a year marked by flat FDI and mounting climate and trade shocks, MIGA and the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform used guarantees more strategically to narrow the finance gap and support climate, trade, and gender goals.
Steep finance gaps, rising needs
Businesses and individuals in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) continued to struggle in 2025 to gain access to the finance they need to grow, flourish, create jobs, and reduce poverty. Â
Foreign direct investment into developing economies was broadly flat in the first half of 2025, though trends diverged by region. Inflows grew slightly in the Asia and Latin American and Caribbean regions, but fell 42 percent in Africa from the previous year. The latest IFC–World Bank MSME Finance Gap Report (March 2025) estimated that across 119 EMDEs, there is a finance gap of about $5.7 trillion, equivalent to 19 percent of GDP and 20 percent of total private sector credit.
Against this backdrop, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) continued to unlock much needed private capital and cross-border investment into EMDEs to provide financing to small businesses and individuals.
The year brought $6.5 billion in new MIGA guarantees and another $2 billion in guarantees issued by other World Bank Group institutions through the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, which is housed at and overseen by MIGA. These guarantees enabled private investment into countries and regions that might otherwise be unable to attract it.
Narrowing the Finance Gap
MIGA’s capital optimization guarantees helped banks expand lending without taking on more risk. A $1.75 billion MIGA guarantee issued to Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) in 2025 will unlock $2.14 billion in new loans by the Spanish bank’s subsidiaries in Argentina, Peru, and Türkiye. MIGA’s guarantee de-risks a portion of BBVA’s balance sheet and frees up risk capacity allocated to these countries. The freed-up capital will be used to support the subsidiaries’ lending operations in green retail mortgages in Peru, and to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) – including women-owned MSMEs – in Argentina, Peru, and Türkiye.Â
Two other MIGA guarantees to two banks with subsidiaries in Ukraine will increase lending to 34,000 clients and 2,000 small businesses, farmers, and women in a country severely affected by conflict.
Similar guarantees, which work by covering the risk of expropriation of mandatory reserves at a lender’s subsidiaries in developing economies, were issued in Argentina, Cambodia, and Serbia, helping de-risk private capital so it can reach underserved clients in challenging markets.
READ MORE: https://www.miga.org/story/miga-2025-de-risking-private-capital-where-it-matters-most
