Pakistan formally assumed the G-24 chairmanship on Sunday, 1 November 2026, taking over from Nigeria at the head of the developing world’s main voice on money and development finance at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four, known as the G-24, was formed in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues. Its secretariat sits at the IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C., and its ministerial meetings run alongside the IMF and World Bank Spring and Annual Meetings. For the coming term, the group’s agenda will be set from Islamabad.
The group works through three regional chapters, an Africa group, an Asia group and a group for Latin America and the Caribbean, and it speaks through joint communiqués issued after its ministerial meetings, usually twice a year. That structure gives its chair real influence: the chair steers what dozens of developing economies ask for, together, when the world’s finance ministers and central bankers gather.
The Three Priorities of the G-24 Chairmanship
Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb set out three priorities for Pakistan’s term, in a Finance Division statement reported by APP. First, development goes back to the centre of global economic policymaking, treating stability as the foundation for investment, productivity, employment and shared prosperity.
Second, the multilateral system itself should become more inclusive and representative, with more equitable governance at the Bretton Woods institutions, the IMF and the World Bank, so that their decisions respond better to developing economies. Third, Pakistan will push for a development-oriented international financial architecture: affordable and timely development financing, sustainable debt solutions, stronger global financial safety nets, climate resilience, and greater mobilisation of public and private capital.
The chairmanship will work by consultation, consensus and collective advocacy, with member countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
For Pakistan, the timing is significant. The country has spent two years in difficult negotiations with the IMF over its own programme, arguing that adjustment should protect development spending and the poor. Chairing the G-24 lets Pakistan make that argument for the whole developing world, on debt relief, climate finance and fairer voting shares at the big institutions, rather than for itself alone.
The World Bank building in Washington, D.C.
Photo: G0T0, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
A Busy Year Ahead for Pakistan’s Economic Diplomacy
The work starts quickly. Aurangzeb has briefed the G-24 Secretariat Director, Dr. Iyabo Masha, on the programme, and Pakistan will host the G-24 Technical Group Meeting in February 2027. Reports also say Pakistan is set to chair the IMF and World Bank boards of governors in 2027, the first time since 1953, which would put the country at the centre of global economic discussions for a full year.
R E A D M O R E
World Bank Says Pakistan’s Incomes Could Triple by 2050 With Faster Reforms
The G-24 chairmanship follows another first: in October, Pakistan took the chair of the Borrowers’ Platform Governing Council, a forum of more than 30 developing nations on debt cooperation, as our report on Pakistan taking the chair of the global borrowers’ platform in Bangkok explained. With reserves also projected to grow, as covered in our story on the SBP expecting Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves to reach $25 billion by June 2027, the chairmanship gives Pakistan a louder voice in arguing for fairer financing for countries like itself. More business stories are on our Pakistani Startups and Business Success page.
Sources
- APP, via Minute Mirror: Pakistan assumes chairmanship of G-24, vows inclusive global economic order
- Geo News: Pakistan assumes G-24 chairmanship, pledges inclusive global economic reforms
- The Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four (G-24), official website
- Featured image: The IMF headquarters building in Washington, D.C. (International Monetary Fund, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
- In-body image: The World Bank H Building in Washington, D.C. (G0T0, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Umar Farooq is the founder and editor of Good News Pakistan. An engineer by profession and a writer by passion, he started the site in December 2022 to share good news from Pakistan, and has since written and edited more than 200 articles about its people, sports, science, business and world records. He believes the story of Pakistan is bigger than its headlines, and that good news, told honestly, is worth telling every day.