(Washington) The newly independent island of Barbados will be the first country to benefit from a loan under the new instrument of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), intended to help poor or vulnerable countries, in particular to adapt to climate change, the institution announced on Wednesday.
Posted at 4:44 p.m.
The IMF has given its agreement, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors, for aid to this very young Caribbean republic, for a total amount of nearly 300 million dollars, through two different programs.
Barbados will thus be the first country to benefit from the new Resilience and Sustainability Trust Fund (RST), which came into effect last May, to help poor or vulnerable countries cope with long-term challenges such as climate change. or pandemics.
The country will thus have access, within the framework of this RST, to 141.75 million SDR (Special Drawing Rights, or SDR in English, unit of account of the IMF, which is based on a basket of five major international currencies), corresponding at around $183 million.
This “will provide funding to support climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, and support Barbados’ ambitious goal of transitioning to a fully renewable energy-based economy by 2030,” the statement said. press release Bert van Selm, head of the IMF team who visited the site from September 20 to 28.
These funds, along with “a wide range of reform measures should catalyze funding from other financial institutions as well as the private sector”, he added.
In addition, the IMF will also release a loan of SDR 85.05 million, or about $110 million, over three years, under the Extended Credit Facility (MEDC).
The agreement should enable Barbados to “maintain and strengthen macroeconomic stability and continue the implementation of the structural reform program”, the IMF stressed in this press release.
The IMF board must now approve this agreement.
Barbados gained independence from the United Kingdom in November 2021, becoming a republic. Sandra Mason, who had been elected a month earlier by indirect universal suffrage, became its first president.
The island of 287,000 inhabitants is known for its heavenly beaches, but also for being the birthplace of world superstar Rihanna.