Protecting Women Will Make You Money

Thursday, September 12, 2019

By Rikha Sharma Rani

When it comes to evaluating an investment, especially overseas investments, the list of potential risks is long. There’s currency risk, liquidity risk, geopolitical risk, regulatory risk, inflation risk, credit risk, climate risk, and more. Not usually on the list? The risk posed by high rates of gender-based violence.

U.S. firms invest over $6 trillion overseas each year, representing a quarter of all foreign direct investment globally. As of September 2018, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the United States’ soon-to-be reformed development finance institution, had extended loans to U.S. businesses investing abroad worth nearly $23 billion. These funds have been used, among other things, to build telecommunication towers in Ecuador, to develop a wind farm in Ukraine, and to extend affordable mortgage loans to homebuyers in Guatemala.

Photo courtesy of Simone D. McCourtie.

Source: Foreign Policy (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Investing
Tags
development finance, gender equality, impact investing