The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group, is to mobilise a $1bn insurance capacity for the Middle East and north Africa to retain and encourage FDI in the region.

Investment is sorely needed in the region, particularly as it has fallen back in the past year. MIGA’s political risk insurance aims to be a risk-mitigation instrument to investors who could be nervous about making an investment or maintaining an existing one.

MIGA executive vice-president Izumi Kobayashi said: “Restoring investors’ confidence is critical to the medium- to long-term economic and social development of the Middle East and north Africa. FDI can boost growth and help create much-needed jobs – a particularly acute challenge for the region.

“Our development mandate obliges us to support investment where it’s most needed and to fill gaps in the market,” she said. “This is precisely why MIGA is setting aside capacity for the region at this crucial moment.”