The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, will join a roundtable discussion on Wednesday about climate change financing with East African finance ministers and governors of central banks in Kigali, Rwanda.
The visit comes a few weeks after the IMF approved $319 million in concessional funding to support climate change mitigation policies under its new policy support instrument, the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), making Rwanda the first African country to access the funds.
During her trip, Georgieva is expected to showcase Rwanda as a model for other African countries due to its well-advanced climate strategies and the IMF’s support of its members in Africa to build a resilient and inclusive future.
It’s all hands on deck for all of us. It is so critical that we help emerging markets and developing countries transform into low-carbon and resilient climate trajectories. Or otherwise, we are all cooked.
Managing Director – Kristalina Georgieva
The IMF launched RST last year with $20 billion and a target of $40 billion to provide policy support and affordable longer-term financing to low-income and vulnerable middle-income countries to deal with climate change and pandemic preparedness.
The IMF states that Rwanda needs to strengthen its institutions further and mobilize additional resources to achieve its ambitious climate objectives.
The country needs $11 billion by 2030, with $6.9 billion conditional on new financing. This amounts to 8.8% of the country’s GDP annually through 2030.
Recently, Rwanda launched a $104 million climate change fund called Ireme Invest to support the private sector in accessing green financing.
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