IMF head Kristalina Georgieva urges pandemic response that tackles climate crisis

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged policymakers around the world to use their response to the COVID-19 outbreak to deal with climate change.

“Looking ahead, policies should lay the foundation for a low-carbon, resilient recovery that would create millions of jobs while help address the climate crisis,” Georgieva said.

“We are especially concerned that the crisis will jeopardise the important development gains of the last years,” she added.

Notably, the institution has doubled access to its emergency facilities – the Rapid Credit Facility as well as Rapid Financing Instrument. In response to the ongoing pandemic, the IMF is providing real-time policy advice and capacity development support to more than 160 countries to address urgent issues like financial supervision, cybersecurity and economic governance.

Last month, the IMF predicted a deeper global recession than initially anticipated, expecting a global GDP contraction of 4.9% this year.

It may be mentioned here that the IMF is responding to the COVID-19 crisis with unprecedented speed and magnitude of financial assistance to help countries protect the lives and livelihoods of people, especially the most vulnerable.