Today, we have published our 2015 Annual Review, which reveals how we invested more money than ever last year and that the businesses in our portfolio in Africa and South Asia created over a million direct and indirect jobs.
2015 was an important year for both CDC and the development agenda. The Government invested a further £735 million in CDC, their first investment in 20 years. Just a few months later, the new Global Goals set everyone’s sights on 2030.
We continued to achieve of our dual objective to deliver development impact and generating a financial return on our investments.
The review, titled ‘Growing in ambition and impact’, reveals that in 2015:
- Our portfolio of businesses in Africa and South Asia created 1.03 million new jobs directly and indirectly. This is a job creation rate of 6.1 per cent, a rate higher than the reported level in many larger economies
- 66 per cent of our disbursed investments went to countries that we classify as the poorest and most difficult to invest in (37 per cent in 2014)
- Our focus on financial sustainability means our assets now stand at £3.9 billion. All our profits are recycled to support more businesses in Africa and South Asia, ensuring that every pound invested goes further
Inside there’s an interview with Erik Solheim, the outgoing Chair of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, where he assesses the importance of development finance institutions like CDC: “To achieve the Goals, countries need finance: they need tax receipts, private investment and official development assistance (ODA). Although they can’t do it alone, DFIs can help in all of these; through mobilising ODA (Official Development Assistance), and encouraging commercial investment by helping to build the private sector in developing countries,” said Mr Solheim.
The review particularly focuses on three strategic priorities for CDC:
- Investing in challenging places – The review highlights some of our recent investments in Pakistan, a country that has often found it difficult to attract commercial investors.
- Investing in key sectors – we prioritise sectors that bring the biggest economic transformation: more and better jobs. The review focuses on our investment in power, because electricity helps developing countries fulfil their potential – around half of businesses, for example, say a lack of reliable and affordable electricity is a constraint to growth.
- Providing more than money – we know it takes more than money to grow a great business, so we also invest our time, expertise and experience so investee businesses can succeed. This is showcased in the review – from working with businesses to improve working conditions in factories, to supporting the next generation of CEOs in Africa.
“I’m proud of the progress that CDC made in 2015. We continued to grow our ambition and impact, making 27 new investments totalling £713m and meeting targets set for us for both development impact and financial return.”
You can download a copy of our Annual Review 2015 here
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