There's success in two ways. I think there's the success of the enterprises within themselves. As I mentioned earlier, DFIs have demonstrated a high degree of sustainability and an ability to not only get returns on the investments they are making and to fulfill their organizational fiduciary responsibilities, but they have been able to reinvest those sums into development.
That's an important contribution, and it's a contribution and a success that's borne out by the fact that all the projections suggest that DFIs are only going to take on more of a role. Just how much of a role they will take over the next decade remains to be seen, but investment in DFIs has increased significantly. Just over the past three years there have been notable increases in the level of capitalization and portfolios of these DFIs. I think that speaks to the first issue.
The second issue is the service they provide and the success that has been. DFIs are situated, if you will, in the spectrum between international development grants, which are concessional. There are loans, of course, that are concessional that are offered by regional development banks for example, and private sector banks and the commercial terms they have. Therefore, the DFIs have played a significant role in being able to generate economic activity where on the one hand the development enterprise doesn't permit it. For example, under Canadian laws Canadian development cannot support for-profit initiatives. That's a significant handicap in the manner that the government could go about in supporting economic growth in countries and supporting the development of firms in developing countries.
On the other hand, of course, you have the banks that are on the one hand unable to appreciate and gauge the actual risks on the ground because they are not necessarily present there, and therefore unwilling to offer the financing that's needed for these companies.
Through their ability to appreciate risk on the ground much more effectively, through their more patient capitals, DFIs have had a remarkable track record in being able to unlock this ability to assume the risks in a manner that the private sector needs.