The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has appointed Judith Green as its new Country Manager for the Pacific Islands, Australia, and New Zealand. Judith will focus on developing new opportunities for private sector investment to drive jobs and growth, helping nations to recover from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and to tackle climate change.
Based in Sydney, Judith will oversee IFC’s operations in the 13 member countries in the region. She will also manage IFC’s relationships with regional governments, private sector stakeholders, and development partners, including the governments of Australia and New Zealand. A Jamaican national, Judith most recently worked as IFC’s Country Manager for the Caribbean overseeing IFC’s operations in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the English-speaking Caribbean.
In an exclusive interview with DevelopmentAid’s Papua New Guinea journalist, Gedion Timothy, Judith detailed her priorities in her new position and expanded on IFC’s role in strengthening development in the area of operation.
DevAid: Warm congratulations on your appointment as country manager for the Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Australia. Which Pacific Island nations will you be responsible for and can you give us a flavor of how you will work in those countries in terms of being physically there yourself?
Green: Thank you. I’m delighted to be the new IFC Country Manager for the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand. I’m proud to be leading an exceptional team who are committed to delivering transformative development across the region.
I will oversee operations in the 13 IFC member countries in the region. These are Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Australia, and New Zealand.
IFC collaborates with the governments of Australia and New Zealand under the Pacific Partnership, the PNG Partnership, and the Fiji Partnership to mobilize investment and drive growth that is sustainable, inclusive, and resilient, and maximizes economic opportunity for all people in these island nations.
DevAid: Why is climate resilient growth for the private sector first on your list?
Green: Climate change is one of the most profound challenges facing Pacific Islands nations with these countries experiencing more extreme weather events that in recent years have become more frequent and more intense – with debilitating effects on livelihoods.
Governments can’t meet the challenge alone – that’s the reality and the private sector can help build up the Pacific’s resilience to climate change and disaster risks. Mobilizing capital to spur sustainable development is vital to the region and its people.
So, on the top of my list for this role is to focus on developing new opportunities for private sector investment to drive jobs and growth, helping nations recover from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and tackle climate change.
DevAid: How significant is the Pacific in terms of its contribution to a climate resilient private sector growth in the Asia Pacific region?
Green: The Pacific Islands region offers great opportunities for climate resilient private sector growth. One area, for example, is renewable energy. In the next decade, there is the potential for an estimated 420 megawatts of renewable power generation to be added to the region.
We recently released a guide to assist potential private sector investors in this exciting market. The guide: Powering the Pacific unpacks concrete pathways for this potential to be realized by the private sector, supported by the right country-specific legal and regulatory frameworks being in place.
IFC is also leading an array of renewable energy initiatives. In Fiji, we are working with Energy Fiji Limited, to help reduce the country’s dependence on imported fossil fuels and at the same time cut harmful greenhouse emissions. It will also boost the nation’s resilience in the face of the impacts of climate change and has the potential to transition as many as 14,000 households to solar energy.
In Solomon Islands, the Tina River 15MW hydropower project will deliver cheaper, more reliable renewable energy to the capital Honiara and will greatly reduce the nation’s reliance on costly, imported diesel fuel while helping it meet its emissions reduction targets.
In PNG, we are working with PNG Power Limited (PPL) to structure a public-private partnership (PPP) that will invest, upgrade, maintain and operate new solar generation sources at a selection of mini-grid centers which enable electrical distribution via systems disconnected from larger electrical grids. The goal of this project is to enable PPL to work with private partners to increase the efficiency and reliability of power generation across PPL’s remote mini-grids – potentially serving 1.5 million people – while also introducing renewables into its energy mix and reducing reliance on diesel fuel.
DevAid: How do you compare the Caribbean and the Pacific in terms of their cultural underpinning and economic challenges and advantages?
Green: There are obvious similarities–but also some differences between Pacific Islands nations and the nation-states of the Caribbean.
I visited Fiji in 2019, to help review IFC’s Fiji country strategy and was instantly reminded of the Caribbean – warm people, similar flora, and just a beautiful country. I have to say I thought connectivity in the Caribbean was difficult, but the Pacific beats us there.
The regions have some key similarities: Vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters, challenges with economies of scale and a high cost of production, vulnerability to external shocks, high energy costs, and remittances playing a large role in the economy. Before the pandemic, tourism was a crucial sector for both regions, and how the sector recovers will be important for both regions.
Among the differences between the two regions: the Caribbean’s proximity to the United States, the world’s biggest economy, and its main market is an advantage. The Pacific nations covering 16,000 kilometres of ocean—an area twice the size of continental Europe can limit local opportunities for businesses and economic expansion and impact private investment levels. The level of economic diversification in the two regions is different as are the levels of economic growth: Over the period 2000–2016, Pacific Island small states’ GDP per capita growth doubled whereas income growth in the Caribbean fell markedly relative to previous decades.
DevAid: Can you highlight the challenges you will face being at the helm of IFC Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific?
Green: As mentioned, the climate crisis is one we will be focused on, working with our colleagues at the World Bank to support member governments and the private sector. Helping countries recover from the impacts of COVID-19, developing the blue economy, boosting renewable energy, forging ahead with affordable housing, supporting the tourism sector, and closing the gender gap are just some of the other areas that we plan to support.
DevAid: What impact and milestones do you hope to have achieved at the end of your tenure?
Green: As mentioned, significant movement on moving the climate agenda will be an important milestone for me. We will also be very focused on generating our own opportunities by proactively working “upstream” to create, deepen, and expand markets and to imagine, design, and implement investment projects. This will require taking a systematic approach to understanding the regulatory and sector bottlenecks that prevent the flow of private capital into productive investment in Pacific countries and addressing these bottlenecks, working with the World Bank on policy reforms and programmatic interventions at the country and sector level.
In my most recent role with IFC, as Country Manager for the Caribbean, we were able to do this thereby supporting the private sector and governments with innovative solutions to support economic development, improve the business environment and create jobs. IFC has also been able to demonstrate the positive impact that public-private partnerships can have and I would like to see more of these opportunities successfully closed in the Pacific. We already have some exciting PPP projects we’re working on, such as the Bina Harbour Tuna Processing Plant, which is expected to help create more than 5,500 jobs in Solomon Islands’ Malaita Province.
Public-private partnerships offer opportunities for businesses to invest and are also key sources of jobs. These partnerships are emerging as a powerful force to support the infrastructure needs of a country whether it be roads, broadband, air and sea ports, housing or electricity.
Finally, engaging with central banks and the financial sector to improve access to finance and to support the climate agenda will also be an area of focus.
DevAid: Given your experience in the banking sector, how does IFC view banking and financial literacy as an enabler of economic advancement in any country?
Green: Financial inclusion is one of the most pressing challenges for small enterprises who are often constrained in their access to credit. IFC has been working with governments globally to support the introduction of modern credit infrastructure to remove these barriers and increase the types of credit products available to individuals and SMEs. Having modern credit infrastructure becomes a game changer with financial literacy. We have some good examples that we can build on here in the Pacific.
For example, our gender team provided training to a company in the Solomon Islands on a range of issues, including financial literacy training for over 1,100 employees. Women who did that training later talked about not having to skip work anymore to go to the markets to sell whatever they could to put food on the table, simply because they learnt how to save. Employees left with money before payday doubled and absenteeism was cut by a third. It was a win for the company and its employees.
In Papua New Guinea, our PNG Consumer Protection project is supporting the Bank of Papua New Guinea to develop a consumer protection framework with a focus on transparency, enabling people to better understand and compare opportunities, when they go to borrow money. We intend to engage to support other countries in the region to also improve financial literacy.
DevAid: Are the financial institutions in the Pacific resilient enough to withstand unforeseen phenomenon such as natural disasters and economic recession?
Green: A core element of our work is to build up financial inclusion in the Pacific. It is even more crucial at a time when economies and financial institutions in the region have faced huge challenges due to COVID-19.
Our work includes the digitization of financial services to bring more people into the formal financial system, and the modernization of the payments system infrastructure to lay the foundations for payments innovation.
For example, when the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted in Tonga back in January, many people there were instantly thrust into a precarious financial position. In what turned out to be timely, we had already worked with the Tonga Development Bank to develop a remittance service called ‘Ave Pa’anga Pau. Remittances are a key component of economic activity and income for households in Tonga at the best of times and Ave Pa’Anga Pau was the first remittance service provider operational following the eruption, making it a vital financial lifeline for so many people in the aftermath of this devastating event. We have had some success and plan to do more to support the region.
DevAid: What are the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of building a responsive and resilient private sector going forward?
Green: COVID-19 has exacerbated already existing development challenges, underscoring economic vulnerabilities to unexpected shocks. As the pandemic continues around the world, many countries are facing prolonged health and economic impacts that are stifling growth and creating new development challenges. To help the Pacific forge a sustainable path ahead, there’s a clear need to develop a strong and engaged private sector. The private sector can play a vital role in helping Pacific nations respond and implement COVID-19 recovery measures and tackle its development challenges, spurring jobs and growth.
DevAid: Will you carry on working with IFC at the end of your tenure? What are your plans for the future?
Green: Absolutely – IFC provides a myriad of opportunities to broaden my experience and to have an impactful career in development.
DevAid: What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Green: Work keeps me quite busy so when I do take time I enjoy reading, listening to music, good food and until recently, hanging out with my dog.
