Mozambique’s Minister of Economy and Finance was among three African Finance Ministers participating last Saturday at the African Finance Ministers’ IMF Press Conference -2023 Spring Meetings IMF conference under the theme “Addressing Sub-Saharan Africa’s Financing Challenges”, held on the sidelines of the 2023 IMF and World Bank Group Spring Meetings in Washington, DC.
During the press conference Max Tonela referred to Mozambique as “one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change risks in Africa”, associated with more frequent climate related disasters the country is facing, making reference to the recent, cyclone Freddy, “which made landfill twice in one month, causing widespread devastation in Mozambique, Madagascar and Malawi, flooding and destroying, leaving behind a huge number of human losses and substantial damaged of public and private infrastructure.“
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Speaking with the Ministers of Finance of Comores and Sierra Leone, Minister Tonela answered questions on climate adaptation and resilience impact on sovereign debt. With regards to new windows of financing, Tonela “welcome the creation of IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Fund (RSF), a concessional credit line that will act as a long-term and catalytic instrument, as critical”.
The second instrument is the new Regional Climate Risk Fund that will be created by the World Bank to support Sub-Saharan African countries to rapidly mobilize relief and recovery financing and strengthen financial preparedness of the Government against climate shocks.
