Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary Shiri Gounder

The Ministry of Finance has unveiled a number of ground-breaking financial initiatives targeted at enhancing the country’s resilience, marking a significant advancement in the fight against climate change and disaster risks.

In addition to highlighting the recent achievements, Permanent Secretary Shiri Gounder emphasizes the availability of quick funding channels through partnerships with international organizations.

According to Gounder, the World Bank now offers immediate financing that is accessible to us in the event of a disaster.

“We started with the green bond issuance, now we have the blue bond. We have additional disaster risk financing facilities now with the World Bank with something called the Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option [Cat DDO].”

The Ministry’s proactive approach to disaster preparedness has also resulted in securing standby finance for potential catastrophes with the signing of a sovereign parametric insurance agreement with the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Foundation.

According to Gounder, the Ministry has several tools in its climate change disaster risk toolkit to deal with disaster risk financing.