Updated: 1 September 2026
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA): Members, Guarantees and Political Risk Insurance
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is a member of the World Bank Group that promotes foreign direct investment into developing countries by reducing non-commercial and political risks. It provides political risk guarantees, credit-enhancement products and trade finance guarantees to eligible investors and lenders.
Purpose and role of MIGA
MIGA was created by an international convention as the newest member of the World Bank Group and began operations in 1988. Its mandate is to promote developmentally sustainable foreign direct investment into developing member countries by providing guarantees against non-commercial risks and by helping investors and lenders manage risks that may otherwise deter cross-border investment.
MIGA does not make ordinary foreign direct investments on its own account in the same way as an equity investor. Its central function is to provide guarantees and risk mitigation that make eligible investment and financing more feasible.
MIGA governance and leadership
MIGA is owned by its member countries. Its corporate powers are vested in a Council of Governors, with each member appointing a Governor and Alternate Governor. Most powers are delegated to a Board of 25 Directors. Voting power is weighted according to the capital represented rather than operating on a simple one-country-one-vote basis for every decision.
MIGA's projects and institutional performance are also subject to World Bank Group accountability and evaluation mechanisms, including the Independent Evaluation Group and, for relevant environmental and social complaints, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman.
MIGA guarantee products
MIGA's current product framework is broader than the older description of five stand-alone insurance products. The World Bank Group Guarantee Platform now organizes guarantees into political risk, credit guarantees and trade finance guarantees.
Expropriation
Protects eligible investments against losses arising from certain government actions that reduce or eliminate ownership, control or rights in the insured investment, including qualifying direct, partial or creeping expropriation.
Currency inconvertibility and transfer restriction
Protects against inability to legally convert local currency into a contractually specified hard currency or transfer funds outside the host country because of government action or inaction. Ordinary currency depreciation is not covered.
War and civil disturbance
Protects against qualifying physical damage, loss of assets and certain business interruption resulting from politically motivated war, terrorism, civil disturbance and related events covered by the guarantee contract.
Breach of contract
Protects eligible investors when a host government breaches or repudiates a covered contractual obligation and the investor cannot obtain or enforce the required remedy under the guarantee terms.
Credit guarantees
Credit-enhancement products can protect lenders against eligible borrower defaults or non-honoring of covered public-sector financial obligations and can improve access to commercial financing.
Trade finance guarantees
Guarantees may protect lenders and trade participants against eligible commercial and political risks in short-term cross-border trade transactions.
Non-honoring of public financial obligations
MIGA's non-honoring coverage is designed for eligible unconditional financial obligations of sovereigns, sub-sovereigns and qualifying state-owned enterprises. Unlike traditional breach-of-contract cover, a claimant generally does not need to first obtain an arbitral award before pursuing a claim where the requirements of the non-honoring guarantee are satisfied.
Coverage and compensation depend on the individual contract of guarantee, insured amount, waiting periods, exclusions and other contractual conditions. It is therefore inaccurate to describe MIGA as automatically paying every unpaid principal and interest obligation of a State entity.
Who is eligible for a MIGA guarantee?
In general, eligible investors are citizens of, or entities incorporated in, a MIGA member country other than the host country. MIGA may also cover certain investments made by nationals of the host country when the investment funds originate outside the host country and the applicable requirements are met.
Eligible forms of investment can include equity, shareholder loans, certain non-shareholder loans, guarantees and other financing structures. State-owned enterprises may qualify where they operate on a commercial basis, and qualifying non-profit entities may also be eligible when the investment is conducted on commercial terms.
World Bank Group Guarantee Platform
The World Bank Group created a unified Guarantee Platform to simplify client access to guarantee products across the institution. The platform is housed at MIGA and offers products supported by the balance sheets of MIGA, IFC and the World Bank.
The current menu includes political risk guarantees, credit guarantees and trade finance guarantees. It also enables combinations of guarantee instruments where appropriate for private projects, public-private partnerships, sovereign borrowing, trade transactions and other eligible development financing.
MIGA and Guarantee Platform results in fiscal year 2025
MIGA issued a record US$9.5 billion in new guarantees across 44 projects in FY2025. Its gross outstanding guarantee portfolio reached a record US$36.8 billion, while its net outstanding guarantee portfolio reached US$11.2 billion.
In the first fiscal year of the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, the platform issued US$12.3 billion in guarantees to 77 projects in 40 countries and one regional development bank. The FY2025 MIGA portfolio was expected to mobilize substantial private capital and support access to finance, electricity, food security and climate-related investment.
Since inception in 1988, MIGA reports that it has issued approximately US$94 billion in guarantees supporting more than 1,060 projects in 124 host countries.
Official MIGA sources
For authoritative current information refer to About MIGA, MIGA Member Countries, World Bank Group Guarantees, MIGA FAQs, MIGA Leadership and MIGA Annual Reports.
Note: guarantee availability, eligibility, coverage and compensation are transaction-specific and governed by the relevant contract and MIGA policies. This page reflects official information available as of 1 September 2026.