News & Current Affairs
Iyabo Masha Announced As Director of G-24, Becomes First African To Hold The Post
Iyabo Masha has been announced first African Director of G-24.
This was announced in a statement released by the international organisation on Friday in Washington, DC, and made public on Sunday in Abuja.
Dr. Masha became the first African to hold this position on February 24.
She has extensive expertise in both international and domestic policymaking, operations, and research.
From 2019 until 2022, Masha "was a member of Nigeria's Presidential Economic Advisory Council, which directly advises the President on economic policy," according to the G-24 statement.
“In that position, she provided leadership to the council’s work on global economic spillovers, macroeconomic, and sustainable development policies.
“Before that, she worked with a range of countries at the International Monetary Fund, Washington DC, negotiating IMF lending programmes and developing non-program policies for emerging market and low-income economies in Africa and Asia."
“She also served as the IMF Resident Representative for Sierra Leone.
“Masha joined IMF from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2003 where she led the Research Department’s annual monetary program.”
The G-24 was created in 1971 as a representative organisation of developing countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
It is responsible for coordinating the countries' stances on monetary and development issues and has the ministersc of finance and their deputies on the Board of Governors.
Minister of Finance Adama Coulibaly of Côte d'Ivoire chairs the board's executive branch for the upcoming fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
Benjamin Diokno of the Philippines is the finance secretary, and Sergio Tomás Massa of Argentina is the economic minister. They are the first and second vice chairs, respectively.