Bangladesh is at the forefront of preparing agenda to address climate change and has made significant progress toward combating the natural disaster, observed International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"Since 2014, the authorities have put in place a range of climate- related policy tools, notably the Climate Fiscal Framework,” IMF Director for the Asia and Pacific Department (APD) Krishna Srinivasan said in an interview with BSS.
He observed that government allocation for climate change, sustainable finance policy for banks and financial institutions and green taxonomy for climate needs along with additional efforts to strengthen institutions would help meet climate objectives and mobilize finance particularly from private sector.
Similarly, he said, prioritizing climate-responsive public investment management reforms and further improving climate fiscal management would make infrastructure green and resilient.
Better management of climate risks will enhance financial sector resilience and help scale up climate finance, he added.
Krishna Srinivasan said Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change and natural disasters.
He said, Bangladesh authorities recognize the need to address long-term climate challenges, which could threaten macroeconomic stability and have made significant progress toward addressing those challenges.
Pointing out Bangladesh’s newly designed National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Srinivasan said as estimated Bangladesh needs to invest about US$230 billion between 2023 and 2050, in which there is significant potential for private sector investment across 113 adaptation interventions envisaged in the plan."
He mentioned that recently approved Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangement will also help support the authorities' efforts to build climate resilience.
The RSF arrangement will expand the fiscal space to help finance priorities identified in the Bangladesh Delta Plan (BDP2100) and the National Adaptation Plan (NAP), he added.
Srinivasan said the comprehensive reform package under the RSF arrangement aims to strengthen institutions to enable climate investment, improve spending efficiency, and enhance financial sector resilience to climate-related risks.
Given Bangladesh's large climate financing needs, the RSF arrangement is expected to help catalyze additional climate financing from both public and private sources, he added.
He said the IMF is also providing capacity development to support climate change transition in Bangladesh.