G-24 countries’ Technical Group Meeting to be inaugurated by Finance Minister tomorrow

The two-day Technical Group Meeting of the G- 24 countries will be held tomorrow at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall.

Over 45 delegates consisting of Secretaries of Ministry of Finance and the Governors of the Central Bank or their representatives at a very senior level from the member countries will participate at this two-day technical committee meeting. The Group of 24 (G24), a chapter of the Group of G-77 countries, was established in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues and to ensure that their interests were adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters.

The G – 24 group, which is officially called the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development, receives the secretariat services from the IMF. Its meetings usually take place twice a year, prior to the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee meetings, to enable developing country members to discuss agenda items beforehand.

The G-24 Bureau is the executive arm of the G-24 and consists of the Chair, First Vice-Chair, Second Vice-Chair, and two previous Chairs. Currently, the Bureau is headed by Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera.

The G-24 Technical Group Meeting (TGM) serves as the main forum for discussing the key work program priorities of the Group and preparing for the plenary meetings of Ministers and Deputies. The TGM is also a forum for peer learning, and sessions include discussions of the country and regional experiences.

The 2018 TGM covers as its first theme debt management and sustainability. In this regard, the discussions will focus on key debt management and sustainability challenges faced, and strategies used, by policymakers, both in terms of addressing macroeconomic linkages and improving liability management. The second and related theme will be mobilizing external sources of capital in light of current, tightening global and market conditions.

This will involve sessions on the role of trade and investment agreements in boosting investment opportunities and the challenge of managing capital flow volatility, with a special session on the potential role of SDRs in improving the international monetary system. The discussions in the TGM will focus on the challenges faced by policymakers in these areas and the multilateral actions necessary to support domestic policy efforts.