Webinar | The IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility: Initial Feedback from Africa | Tues 9th April

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has established a Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) since October 2022 to fund the fight against climate change and pandemics in eligible countries, most of which are low-income countries. This facility represents a significant shift in the IMF's operations in these countries, as it covers 'forward-looking' balance of payments needs rather than the correction of serious and immediate balance of payments imbalances. African countries have shown a strong demand for the RSF at all levels of concessionality.

The implementation of the RSF is associated with major efficiency challenges, particularly for African countries :

• The ability to attract funding from other international donors, such as multilateral banks, climate funds, bilateral and private funds, in order to boost their limited funding capacity. It is important to note that Africa is the continent most vulnerable to climate change, yet it participates the least in this dynamic. According to an IMF study, sub-Saharan Africa requires between $30 and $50 billion annually from 2021 to 2030 for adaptation and $190 billion annually for mitigation. In 2020, Africa received $15.7 billion in concessional climate finance, which accounted for up to 70% of total climate flows.
• Coordination issues are crucial, considering (1) other available financing options, especially for countries eligible for the PRGT ; the first RSFs are often associated with IMF extended credit facilities ; (2) the objectives of national strategies to combat climate change ; (3) other sustainable development objectives.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this seminar is to initiate a dialogue to better understand the expectations of beneficiary countries regarding the FSR. To achieve this, discussions will focus on the following questions:

• What are African countries' expectations of the IMF's resilience and sustainability facility in relation to adapting to and mitigating climate change? How do IMF funds and surveillance align with national climate transition plans?
• Considering the initial financing provided to African countries, how does this facility fit into the IMF's toolbox for PRGT-eligible countries and the range of financing available for sustainable development? Are there any knock-on or crowding-out effects observed?
• How can the expectations of African countries be better integrated into the operation of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, and how can it be better coordinated with other available international financing?