Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, on Thursday said it had launched a new Resilience and Sustainability Trust to support vulnerable countries meet their long-term challenges.
“I am delighted to announce that the new Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) has become operational. “Today, I notified the Executive Board that with our fundraising to date, the RST is ready to start lending operations.’’
Georgieva in a statement explained that the RST §was the first IMF tool to provide long-term affordable financing for supporting countries in such issues as climate change and pandemics and to help maintain longer-term economic and financial stability.
The director said Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, and Spain had provided a total of $20 billion in their first contributions to the RST.
“This first round of RST resources represents just over half of the total current RST pledges of SDR 29 billion ($37 billion) from 13 countries.
“Further contributions are expected to become effective in early 2023 once countries have completed their domestic procedures, ensuring the RST is in a strong position to meet the demand for RSF arrangements in the coming years,” Georgieva said.
More countries are expected to join the initiative over time, Georgieva said.