By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The severity and frequency of climate-related catastrophes is rising faster than elsewhere in the world in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, said.

New International Monetary Fund papers show that climate-related disasters caused 7 million deaths, 22,000 injuries and $2.5 billion of damage in an average year in the region.

Droughts in North Africa Somalia and Iran. In the Horn of Africa, there have been epidemics of locust infestations and an outbreak of pandemics. In the Caucasus, and Central Asia, there have been severe floods. In remarks made for the World Government Summit, Dubai Georgieva stated that “the list of disasters keeps getting longer.”

Analysis of data spanning the past century showed that temperatures in the region had risen by 1.5° C, twice the global increase of 0.7° C, and already sparse precipitation had become more erratic than in any other region, the IMF report said.

Georgieva said extreme weather events typically cut annual economic growth by 1–2 percentage points per capita.

According to her, these events caused a loss of GDP in Central Asia, and Caucasus, by about 5.5 percentage point.

Her call was to all countries to address climate change by adapting their economies, such as through a steady rising carbon price, green investments, and working to achieve a fair transition within and between countries.

She also praised the United Arab Emirates as a large oil producer for their pledge to invest over $160 billion to develop renewable energy in order to reach net zero carbon emission by 2050. Egypt was also investing in irrigation technology, education, and healthcare.

Georgieva stated that it was crucial to include climate adaptation strategies in national economic plans. Investments in resilient infrastructure, flood protection and other measures could help avoid economic loss.

For example, in Morocco simulations revealed that a stronger water infrastructure can increase drought resilience and decrease GDP losses up to 60%

According to her, public infrastructure investments could be as high as 3.3% GDP annually for each country in the region during the next decade. This is more than double the average investment for emerging markets.

Georgieva explained that the countries with limited resources after the COVID-19 crisis would require a mixture of domestic policy reforms (such as the replacement of fuel subsidies) and international support.