IMF chief affirms support for climate financing in developing countries

KIGALI - Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva Wednesday affirmed her organization's support for climate financing in developing countries.

"We believe that developing countries deserve to have access to long-term financing to underpin their structural transformation, the investment in climate resilience and low carbon development," Georgieva told a round table discussion with East African region central bank governors and ministers of finance in Rwanda's capital city Kigali.

The discussion focused on climate financing schemes for developing countries and the operational context of the IMF's resilience and sustainability facility.

Participants also discussed innovative homegrown solutions to mitigate climate change and how the international community can support or act as a catalyst to mobilize public and private financing.

"The IMF is committed to supporting countries' climate policies, especially through the new Resilience and Sustainability Facility which countries can use as a catalyst for investment to build resilience," Georgieva said.

She noted that the IMF attaches great significance to climate action in the context of preserving macroeconomic stability and promoting growth and employment.

She also stressed the need for Africa to be at the center of climate finance negotiations.

Africa has contributed very little to the problem, but it is already suffering the consequences of climate change in a very dramatic way, she said.

"In Africa, drought and floods are causing loss of productivity, agriculture produce, harming people and communities," she added.

Developed countries had pledged nearly $100 billion per year by 2020 for climate action in developing countries, which is yet to be fulfilled.

Last December, the IMF announced a $319 million loan for Rwanda under the resilience and sustainability facility, to support the country's ambitious agenda to build resilience to climate change and help to catalyze further financing, the first for an African country.

The initiative aims at helping low-income and vulnerable middle-income member countries to address longer-term structural challenges such as climate change with longer-term low-cost financing.

Georgieva, who arrived in Rwanda on Tuesday for a three-day working visit as part of her African tour, on Wednesday met Rwandan President Paul Kagame with whom they discussed partnerships, according to the president's office.