NEW DELHI: G20 members must lead by example in delivering on the promises of $100 billion per year for climate finance, supported by strengthening the Multilateral Development Banks, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said on Sunday.
The IMF MD said that while the IMF has secured over $40 billion to support vulnerable countries through our Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) to build climate resilience, countries also need to mobilise domestic resources to finance and manage the green transition through tax reforms, effective and efficient public spending, strong fiscal institutions, and deep local debt markets.
The IMF MD also called for all countries to pursue sound policies to support economic and financial stability and growth-oriented structural reforms. This is especially important in emerging and developing countries, where such reforms can boost output by up to 8% over 4 years, she said while cautioning that the global economic recovery is slow and uneven, with medium-term growth prospects being the weakest in decades in an environment of still elevated inflation, high interest rates, and growing fragmentation.
She said in order to make the global economy stronger and more resilient in a more shock-prone world, it is vital to reach an agreement to increase the IMF’s quota resources before the end of the year and secure the needed resources for the Fund’s interest-free support to the poorest countries through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust.