By Asmau Ahmad
The Intergovernmental Group of 24 Countries (G-24), has tasked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to initiate reforms to address economic challenges faced by some countries.
The call was made by Iyabo Masha, the Director of G-24 Secretariat on the side-lines of the ongoing World Bank/IMF Meetings in Marrakech on Wednesday.
G-24, which Nigeria is a member, was established in 1971 to help coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues.
It is also to ensure that their interests are adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters
It was originally named after the number of founding member states, but it now has 28 members with China acting as a Special Invitee.
According to Masha, the global economic landscape is uncertain, with countries affected by declining to tight external finance conditions, high debt levels and rising inflation.
“They asked for allocation of new Special Drawing Rights (SDR), the IMF’s reserve currency, reform of IMF short-term financing instruments and increased concessional resources to low-income countries.
“They also called for the reform of IMF surcharge policy, increased channelling of SDR from donor countries to needy countries.
“Member countries were of the view that these recommendations would provide additional financing for members to mitigate shocks and invest in climate action and sustainable development,” she said.
Masha said that the members of the group also expressed concern about high and increasing public debt levels, with many developing countries carrying in unsustainable debt levels.
“They noted that some of the poorest and most vulnerable countries are excluded from the benefit of debt relief.
“The G-24 called for a durable debt resolution for these countries,” she said.
