Elizabeth Littlefield on OPIC's growth and changes in development finance

This story is part of a series of exit interviews Devex is conducting with the leaders of Obama administration aid agencies.

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation went through a reorganization process during the Barack Obama administration — putting in place stronger systems, targeting more vulnerable areas and doubling its annual portfolio, former President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield told Devex in a recent interview.

OPIC also played a role in shifting the conversation about the role of the private sector in development, she said. Created by Richard Nixon in 1971, OPIC launched at a time when official development assistance dwarfed foreign direct investment. But in the intervening years, those trends have reversed. Now development finance institutions globally are growing.

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