1、 https:/crsreports.congress.gov Updated July 18, 2017U.S. Foreign Assistance: USAID Loan GuaranteesThe U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the leading humanitarian and development agency in the U.S. government, provides assistance through multiple mechanisms. Until the early 1980s, a
2、significant portion of its assistance was provided in the form of concessional loans for development purposes, often for purposes of building economic infrastructure, in much the same way as the World Bank provides loans to developing countries today. Since then, it has provided almost all assistanc
3、e on a grant (i.e., gift) basis. But the agency maintains two programs that issue loan guarantees: the Development Credit Authority (DCA) and sovereign loan guarantees. Both have grown in prominence in recent years. Development Credit Authority Although the DCA program was formally launched in 1999,
4、 it has its roots in several predecessor loan guarantee programs with discrete development purposes, including the Housing Loan Guaranty Program, originating in the 1960s, and the 1990s Micro and Small Enterprise Development Program. Like those programs, the DCA stimulates private sector lending for