The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva has commended Rwanda’s policies and sustained implementation of reforms to address climate change by the different stakeholders in the country.
Georgieva said that she was pleased with how Rwandan youths are using creative means to advocate climate action and environmental conservation, and how entrepreneurs are using their ingenuity to bring climate-friendly solutions for a greener future for the country.
Georgieva made the statement after exchanges with Rwandan youths, women, civil society, and green entrepreneurs in the capital city of Kigali on Thursday, January 26, 2023.
To support the country’s ambitious agenda to build resilience to climate change and help catalyse further financing, Rwanda was announced as the first country in Africa to access the IMF’s $319 million loan under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility in December 2022.
Read also: US, EU donate $8.5 billion to South Africa’s energy transition
Georgieva said access to the fund was a testament to Rwanda’s strong track record of policies and sustained implementation of reforms.
“Considering Rwanda’s place as a pacesetter on climate initiatives and the challenges the East Africa region faces with increasingly frequent and damaging droughts and flooding,” she said. “I appreciated the opportunity to focus on the existential threat of climate change,”.
She noted that climate change is a global emergency that transcends national borders.
Georgieva said that she was pleased with Rwanda’s unequivocal call for stronger international cooperation and coordination to address the challenge and called for international cooperation and coordinated solutions to climate challenges, including mobilising the needed financing.
The Resilience and Sustainability Facility is to help vulnerable low- and middle-income countries address longer-term structural changes, such as climate change and pandemic preparedness.
“We look forward to seeing Rwanda serve as a leading example of how long-term low-cost funding from the IMF can help sub-Saharan Africa mitigate the effects of climate change,” Georgieva said.
Story was adapted from EnvironNewsNigeria.
