The Government of Barbados welcomes the news that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to become Prescribed Holders of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
This approval allows both regional institutions to increase their lending capacity to support sustainable development and to augment climate financing across the region.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley thanked the IMF Deputy Managing Director, Bo Li, and his team for participating in the Roundtable Discussion earlier today to further develop the Climate Finance Strategy for Barbados.
The Roundtable, chaired by Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment, Ryan Straughn, also included officials from the CDB, IDB, European Investment Bank, International Finance Corporation, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and senior government officials. It focused on how these multilateral institutions can support the IMF Resilience and Sustainability Fund (RSF) programme with Barbados.
As the Bridgetown Initiative advances, these discussions, along with new SDR status for regional development banks, are important to harmonise the response from the international community whilst Barbados seeks to mobilise both domestic and regional financial resources.
“It is welcomed news as this represents part of the concrete actions needed to help climate vulnerable countries like Barbados to meet our objectives in response to the climate crisis”, Prime Minister Mottley stated.