USAID Serbia and Montenegro
Compete Project (Serbia): Helping to bring Serbian companies back into world market – leading directly to $20.5m in 2008 exports. Helping to introduce International Industry standards that allow companies to compete in the global marketplace. Attracted major film productions and millions in investments. | Support to companies (Serbia) in vulnerable areas increased their competitiveness. 2008 sales at trade/shows fairs for assisted companies up 42%. | Economic systems (Serbia): Helped introduce: VAT; private pensions; investment funds; sound insurance industry, bankruptcy and enforcement and modern payment systems. | Opportunity Bank (Serbia) loans created 5,000+ new jobs and ensured 40,000+ existing jobs were kept. Only lender for vulnerable people who have little access to credit. | Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Serbia): Civil Society activities have brought together 14 major companies and an array of NGOs to establish culture of CSR. | Preparedness Planning (Serbia): USAID works with all levels of government to improve disaster risk reduction, trained 675 responders from 50 Municipalities on disaster management. | Civil Society Grants (Serbia): USAID assisted 160 Civil Society organizations with $5.2 million in 2.5yrs to better represent the needs of ordinary people & become more influential partners with businesses and government in the democratic process. | Media (Serbia): USAID media assistance has contributed to more independent, professional and financially viable media outlets and media associations. The regulatory environment now better supports the development of e-media; 2,000+ media professionals trained. | Court Reform (Serbia): U.S. assistance helped increase independence and the professional skills of judges, magistrates and prosecutors; provided legal assistance to victims of war crimes and human rights abuses. | Local governments (Serbia): Through work with a wide geographic spread of municipalities, local governments are now more responsive: 30+ Citizen Assistance Centers, E-government in 80+ Municipalities. | Youth (Serbia): Junior Achievement in 90 schools in 2009. USAID supports efforts of the Ministry of Youth/Sports to better prepare youth for post-graduation work opportunities. | Agribusiness (Serbia): Serbian companies assisted made $16.7m in registered sales in 2008. Recent trade shows expected to bring over $17m in contracts. | Local Economic growth (Serbia): Municipalities in USAID’s Municipal Economic Growth Activity attracted over 800m Euro in investments and created over 11,000 jobs in two years by becoming more business friendly; 270 new businesses opened; 26 Local Economic Development offices set up to actively attract investments. | Commercial Courts (Serbia) have become more efficient and transparent with Case Management Systems in all 16 courts and the High Commercial Court. Case backlogs cut drastically. |
    Search
    Search Tips
    USAID Film Part

    Development Credit Authority

    The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working with the private sector in emerging markets to expand investment in local development activities. Since 1999, USAID’s field offices, or “missions” have used the Development Credit Authority (DCA) to facilitate these public-private partnerships. DCA is a tool within USAID that enables the missions to provide partial credit guarantees for private-sector investments to reduce the risk associated with lending to new sectors or new borrowers. These guarantees help stimulate development by increasing the flow of credit to areas and activities that need it the most.

    DCA activities are designed and managed by USAID's overseas missions in conjunction with the Office of Development Credit in USAID-Washington, DC. Credit guarantees offer several distinct and very attractive advantages over other forms of assistance.

    DCA is…

    • The legal authority for USAID missions to issue credit guarantees;
    • An innovative financial tool that mobilizes private capital to support USAID development goals;
    • A mechanism to partially guarantee loans extended by private-sector lenders to creditworthy borrowers or debt instruments issued to raise capital in local markets;
    • A means to support new or increase financing in areas limited by conditions such as a lender’s aversion to risk or overly-burdensome collateral requirements;
    • A complement to USAID’s traditional and professional assistance, engaging the private sector in lending its own capital for bankable projects.

        Benefits of DCA

        Promotes private-sector investment– there is a large reserve of untapped private capital available for investment in emerging market countries. To encourage financial institutions to lend that capital for developmentally beneficial projects, credit guarantees can be used to cover part of the risk on new loans where financing has previously been unavailable or inaccessible.

        Encourages lending by reducing risk – USAIDcovers up to 50% of the net loss on the principal amount of loans, sharing the risk with the private-sector partner.

        Builds the lending capacity of local financial institutions –guarantees provide local financial institutions with the security to extend credit and expand into new sectors. Encourage local market participants to utilize private capital to develop activities that may otherwise be cost-prohibitive or not feasible due to lack of access to financial markets or resistance in lending by financial institutions.

        Provides a demonstration effect–By demonstrating the sustainability and profitability of development activities supported by credit guarantees, local institutions are more likely to expand financial services to traditionally underserved economic sectors and social groups.

        Maximizes the use of Agency resources- USAID can leverage up to 25 times the per-dollar-impact by using credit to finance development activities.

        For further information, visit the DCA site: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/economic_growth_and_trade/development_credit/index.html