Investing for development : the Department for International Development's oversight of CDC Group plc : eighteenth report of session 2008-09 : report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Investing for development : the Department for International Development's oversight of CDC Group plc : eighteenth report of session 2008-09 : report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence
(HC, 94)
Stationery Office, 2009
Available at 1 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
At head of title: House of Commons, Public Accounts Committee
"Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 30 March 2009"
Description and Table of Contents
Description
CDC Group Plc, formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation, is the United Kingdom's Development Finance Institution. Wholly owned by the Department for International Development (DFID), it aims to help reduce poverty by supporting private sector development. CDC invests equity in private enterprises in developing countries in order to demonstrate to other investors that it is possible to make money in such countries, while at the same time creating sustainable jobs, paying taxes and following good social and environmental policies. In 2004, DFID restructured CDC in order to invest indirectly, through private fund managers. CDC invests largely in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asian enterprises in sectors as diverse as retail, finance, agriculture and manufacturing. Since 2004, CDC has grown rapidly, more than doubling the value of its assets to GBP 2.7 billion by mid-2008. DFID's oversight of certain elements of business efficiency needs to be improved. CDC invests over 70 per cent of its resources in poor countries but has limited influence where its fund managers invest.
Only 4 per cent of its resources are invested in small and medium enterprises, which suffer a shortage of finance. For DFID, financial performance is the principal indicator of CDC's development impact. This information, however, is not sufficient to assess CDC's effect on poverty reduction and not enough is done to measure compliance with ethical investment principles. The level and nature of CDC executive remuneration are also relevant to business efficiency and management incentives. The Chief Executive's remuneration increased from GBP 383,000 in 2003 to GBP 970,000 in 2007, reflecting in part CDC's exceptional financial performance but pay arrangements place too much emphasis on financial performance and too little on success in reducing poverty.
by "Nielsen BookData"