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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the release of USD 1.3 billion. This is to support reforms to facilitate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation of the effects of climate change in the Ivory Coast.
Ivory Coast will receive USD 1.3 billion in financing, the equivalent of USD 975.6 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), from the IMF under its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). This facility was set up in October 2022 to finance the fight against climate change and pandemics. For the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI), this facility marks a significant change in how the IMF operates in these countries by covering the forward-looking balance of payments needs rather than the correction of severe and immediate balance of payments imbalances. In Ivory Coast, the FRD was set up to support climate action.
Ivory Coast is already living with rising temperatures, rising sea levels that threaten coastal populations and economic activities, and changing rainfall patterns that are detrimental to agricultural activities, given that this sector employs half the working population, according to the IMF.
Economic vulnerabilities to climate change are exacerbated by the country’s high dependence on agriculture and the concentration of industrial and service activities in coastal areas.
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There is also the consolidation of safeguards for the agricultural sector, which contributes 17% of gross domestic product (GDP), but which should be reformed to reduce its impact on Ivory Coast’s forest cover. The Ivorian government’s reforms will also focus on creating a framework for green and sustainable financing, strengthening resilience to climate hazards, and controlling and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
