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MIGA’s goal is to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth and more.

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Explore different types of political risk insurance guarantees provided to investors and lenders.

Hyundai building

Explore global projects that support economic growth, reduce poverty and improves people’s lives.

Hands husking peas into a basket full of peas

Learn about the progress MIGA is making in its mission to support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people’s lives.

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About Dropdown Description

World Bank building

MIGA’s goal is to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth and more.

Our Impact Dropdown Description

Hands husking peas into a basket full of peas

Learn about the progress MIGA is making in its mission to support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people’s lives.

Our Products Dropdown Description

Young woman bending down to tending to her outside chores

Explore different types of political risk insurance guarantees provided to investors and lenders.

Projects Dropdown Descriptions

Hyundai building

Explore global projects that support economic growth, reduce poverty and improves people’s lives.

guidelines & policy

Guidelines & Policy

The MIGA Exclusion List defines the types of projects that MIGA does not guarantee.

MIGA does not underwrite the following projects:

  • Production or trade in any product or activity deemed illegal under host country laws or regulations or international conventions and agreements, or subject to international bans, such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides/herbicides, ozone depleting substances, PCB, wildlife or products regulated under CITES.
  • Production or trade in weapons and munitions.
  • Production or trade in alcoholic beverages (excluding beer and wine).
  • Production or trade in tobacco.
  • Gambling, casinos and equivalent enterprises.
  • Production or trade in radioactive materials. This does not apply to the purchase of medical equipment, quality control (measurement) equipment and any equipment where MIGA considers the radioactive source to be trivial and/or adequately shielded.
  • Production or trade in unbonded asbestos fibers. This does not apply to purchase and use of bonded asbestos cement sheeting where the asbestos content is less than 20 percent.
  • Drift net fishing in the marine environment using nets in excess of 2.5 km. in length.

A reasonableness test will be applied when the activities of the project company would have a significant development impact but circumstances of the country require adjustment to the Exclusion List.

All financial intermediaries (FIs), except those engaged in activities specified below*, must apply the following exclusions, in addition to MIGA’s Exclusion List:

  • Production or activities involving harmful or exploitative forms of forced labor/harmful child labor.

  • Commercial logging operations for use in primary tropical moist forest.

  • Production or trade in wood or other forestry products other than from sustainably managed forests.

*When investing in microfinance activities, FIs will apply the following items in addition to the MIGA Exclusion List:

  • Production or activities involving harmful or exploitative forms of forced labor/harmful child labor.

  • Production, trade, storage, or transport of significant volumes of hazardous chemicals, or commercial scale usage of hazardous chemicals. Hazardous chemicals include gasoline, kerosene, and other petroleum products.

  • Production or activities that impinge on the lands owned, or claimed under adjudication, by Indigenous Peoples, without full documented consent of such peoples.

*Trade finance projects, given the nature of the transactions, FIs will apply the following items in addition to the MIGA Exclusion List:

Production or activities involving harmful or exploitative forms of forced labor/harmful child labor.

MIGA's Performance Standards address:

  • assessment and management of environmental and social risks and impacts
  • labor and working conditions
  • resource efficiency and pollution prevention
  • community, health, safety, and security
  • land acquisition and involuntary resettlement
  • biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of living natural resources
  • indigenous peoples
  • cultural heritage

These Performance Standards help MIGA and its clients manage and improve social and environmental performance through an outcomes-based approach. The desired outcomes are described in the objectives of each Performance Standard, followed by specific requirements to help clients achieve these outcomes through means that are appropriate to the nature and scale of the project and commensurate with the level of social and environmental risks (likelihood of harm) and impacts. Central to these requirements is a consistent approach to avoid adverse impacts on workers, communities, and the environment, or if avoidance is not possible, to reduce, mitigate, or compensate for the impacts, as appropriate. The Performance Standards also provide a solid base from which clients may increase the sustainability of their business operations. Guidance Notes on implementing the Performance Standards are available from our sister agency, the International Finance Corporation.

While managing social and environmental risks and impacts in a manner consistent with the Performance Standards is the responsibility of the client, MIGA seeks to ensure that the projects we support through a guarantee are operated in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Performance Standards. As a result, MIGA's social and environmental review of a proposed project is an important factor in our decision to provide a guarantee for an investment in the project or not, and will determine the scope of the social and environmental conditions of the MIGA guarantee. By adhering to this policy, we can enhance the predictability, transparency, and accountability of our actions and decision-making, help clients manage social and environmental risks and improve performance, and enhance positive development outcomes on the ground.

In accordance with our disclosure policy, we prepare and disclose Environmental and Social Review Summaries for projects with potentially significant or limited adverse social or environmental impacts (Category A and B Projects). These summaries contain MIGA's preliminary findings related to a project's potential environmental and social impacts. Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, and/or other relevant related documentation provided by the prospective client, are attached to these summaries. These documents are accessible through our project database.