WASHINGTON, April 11 — Forty-four countries have expressed interest in joining the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) US$40 billion (RM176.6 billion) Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), said IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva on Monday (April 10).
The facility created a year ago aims to increase the resilience of low-income and vulnerable middle-income countries by providing them with financial support and promoting sustainable economic policies in response to systemic risks such as climate change, reported Xinhua.
The strong demand for the RST programme underscores the urgent need for global cooperation in mobilising the trillions of dollars in investment in order to put the world on a net-zero emissions trajectory, said Georgieva at an event held on Monday afternoon at the start of IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings week.
The event, on the theme of Scaling Up Resilience and Sustainability Financing, was co-organised by the Bretton Woods Committee, the International Finance Forum (IFF), and the Paulson Institute.
Rwanda, Barbados, Costa Rica, Bangladesh and Jamaica have reached agreements on loan programmes from the facility, according to Georgieva.
"So US$40 billion is not a solution on its own, but it is a contribution to a solution if it helps remove barriers for massively scaling investment, especially private investment in emerging markets and economies," said Georgieva.
"But we also have much more to do… Addressing this challenge requires a comprehensive and collaborative approach based on three interrelated elements: adequate policies, investment and innovation, and financing," she said.
Collaboration between multilateral institutions, national authorities, and the private sector will be essential to turn climate challenges into opportunities, said Li Bo, IMF's deputy managing director, in the panel discussion.
"For renewable energy alone, we need US$1 trillion (RM4.42 trillion) a year," Li said.
Jin Liqun, president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, stressed the need to further enhance the awareness of the general public about climate crisis.
"Because unless you do believe this is going to be a crisis looming large on the horizon, it is not possible to mobilise sufficient resources for that purpose," said Jin.
— Bernama
