The President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Ilan Goldfajn, and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, have agreed to enhance their collaboration to better support the efforts of common members in Latin America and the Caribbean to foster sustainable and inclusive growth and address the structural challenges of climate change.
A release from the two entities disclosed that the two, “operating within the scope of each institution’s mandate… will increase their cooperation in areas of general coordination and climate finance.” As part of what the release describes as “enhanced general coordination” the two entities will “deepen their cooperation in the areas of ‘(i) surveillance of macro-economic policies, (ii) IMF arrangements, in particular the Resilience and Sustainability Fund (RSF), (iii) IDB lending operations, including investment and policy-based loans, and (iv) capacity development.’”
The climate finance collaboration which, in the wake of the challenges posed by climate change in the hemisphere, will reportedly focus on “identifying policies to support member countries’ climate objectives, capacity development and building programmatic approaches to mobilize climate finance.” The announced strengthening of collaboration between the two means that staff of the two entities will focus on enhancing their support for “designing economic policies and policy reform programs in common member countries, as well as mobilize climate finance more effectively.”
Specific initiatives aimed at the realization of these goals include working with country platforms to attract additional funding for climate action. With climate change and its implications having moved further to the forefront of the region’s developmental agenda in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, recently held climate finance meetings convened in Barbados, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, brought together authorities, development partners, and private investors, according to the disclosure from the two institutions.
Going forward, the collaborative effort will focus on helping to “explore solutions to the countries’ climate finance needs” and providing “faster and broader access to financing and capacity development.” Commenting on the development, President of the Inter-American Development Bank, Ilan Goldfajn, is quoted as saying that the two institutions have made a significant step towards “better supporting our member countries tackle climate change more effectively and seizing the opportunities that the green transition can offer and foster sustainable growth. We see a lot of synergies between the works of both institutions.”
By the same token, the IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, says that the Fund is “committed to enhancing our collaboration with IDB to deliver tangible results for people, businesses and institutions throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. We do this by leveraging our respective expertise to tackle challenges posed by climate change.”
