The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) signed an agreement with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) to receive financial and technical assistance in developing its sustainable finance strategy.
As per a post shared by CBSL on its official social media page, the deal would allow the bank to update its green finance taxonomy released in 2022 to help ascertain the sustainability of different business activities in the country.
CBSL has been developing a sustainable finance roadmap since 2019 with technical support from IFC. Under this initiative, guidelines were issued two years ago to encourage licensed banks to use green bonds and invest in sustainable activities.
The renewed partnership with IFC will allow the central bank to “expand the focus of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy”, to help facilitate access to affordable financial services for Sri Lankan consumers and businesses. The strategy will focus on inclusive green finance, with special emphasis on export-oriented SMEs.
Sri Lanka aims to reach net zero by 2050, though President Ranil Wickremesinghe is eyeing an earlier target of 2040 if Sri Lanka were to receive US$100 billion of investment.