KATHMANDU: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari participated in the 'High-level Seminar on Climate Change Issues for Governors and Financial Sectors Policy Makers' organised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Bangkok, Thailand on December 12 and 13.
Around 80 people from 13 countries including central bank governors, deputy governors, monetary sector officials and IMF representatives of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region participated in the programme.
At the seminar, speaking at the session titled 'Transition Challenges and Scaling Up Climate Financing', NRB Governor Adhikari said the least developed countries including Nepal have been affected by climate change and have been facing problems. He mentioned that Nepal is at a high risk and informed that NRB has made a policy arrangement related to climate change to support the implementation of the mitigation, adaptation and transitional policy adopted by Nepal to reduce the risk of climate change and also considering the impact on the financial sector.
Governor Adhikari informed that the guideline on Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) has been issued for Nepal's banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to protect the financial sector from the effects of climate change and in line with the policy of low carbon emissions. He opined that it is necessary to assess the impact of climate change on the financial sector and stressed the role of IMF in this. Noting that Nepal has taken a policy to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2045, and for the implementation of the policy, a total of $47 billion worth of green investment is required, he said that overall capacity and financial management are challenging for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
On the sideline of the seminar, Governor Adhikari held a bilateral meeting with the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, P Nandalal Weerasinghe. The central bank governors of the two countries discussed the exchange of supervisory information and international electronic payments.
Governor Adhikari returned home on December 14.
