UN farm fund in talks with IMF to join forces on resilience trust - president

LONDON - The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is in talks with the International Monetary Fund on joining forces on a new financing programme designed to shore up sustainable growth in poorer countries.

IFAD could become a partner of the IMF’s $45 billion lending initiative, the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), bringing its expertise on how small-scale producers and farmers cope with climate change in vulnerable countries, the incoming IFAD president said.

“The IMF needs implementing partners and is still in the process of deciding how that works,” said Alvaro Lario. “We could participate through the climate adaption angle of the RST.”

Food security is key for many emerging and frontier market economies, which are vulnerable to the effects of climate change and have also been at the sharp end of a global rise in inflation in countries where foodstuffs make up as much as 40 percent in inflation baskets – the selection of goods used to calculate the cost of living.

Launched in spring, the

RST will start lending in October – coinciding with policy makers from around the globe meeting in Washington for the annual meetings of the

IMF and World Bank.

IFAD approved just over $1 billion in low-interest loans and grants in 2021, according to its annual report, and is invested in 94 countries, with 207 ongoing programmes until the end of last year, mainly focused on Africa.

It works closely with lenders such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Meanwhile, the African Development Bank said it has approved a 199 million-euro ($194 million) loan to help Morocco increase its cereals production and reduce imports.

The IMF needs implementing partners and is still in the process of deciding how that works,” said Alvaro Lario. “We could participate through the climate adaption angle of the RST.”