Director and Head of Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Group of 24, Dr. Iyabo Masha, has stressed that emerging markets must attract long-term investment, boost productivity and leverage innovation to drive the next phase of global economic growth.
Masha stated this in a keynote address, titled ‘Emerging Markets: Engines of Global Growth’, at the just-concluded ninth Annual Foreign Investment Network Banking on Emerging Markets Forum and Awards in Bangkok, Thailand, held alongside the 2026 IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings.
At the event, policymakers, finance officials, investors and business executives examined investment opportunities and the changing dynamics of the global economy.
“Emerging markets are not peripheral to the future of the global economy. They are central to it,” she asserted.
She called for a fundamental shift in how international investors assess developing countries’ contribution to global prosperity.
Masha argued that instead of treating emerging economies merely as destinations for development assistance or recipients of foreign capital, the investment community should recognise their growing significance as potential drivers of economic expansion, technological progress and employment.
She noted that developing countries’ financing needs were central to the broader debate over the sustainability of global growth, particularly as investment, innovation and improvements in productive capacity become increasingly important to economic performance.
According to her, achieving the worthy objective will require more than favourable assessments of their prospects, saying that the development will, however, depend on sustained investment, effective institutions, credible domestic policies and stronger cooperation between governments, development finance institutions and private businesses.
Masha challenged investors to look beyond short-term considerations and evaluate the long-term commercial opportunities available across developing economies.
She said, “The future of global investment should not be determined solely by established markets when developing countries offer opportunities to expand production, establish new enterprises and create employment.”
The G-24 Director also argued that the coming decade would decide whether emerging markets could convert their economic potential into sustained growth and broader prosperity.
She highlighted the need to close the gap between the investment scale developing economies require and the capital currently available to finance their priorities.
She added that multilateral and regional development banks help bring private investors into projects that might otherwise struggle to secure adequate funding.
Masha further stated, “Through blended finance, risk-mitigation instruments and innovative financing structures, development institutions could help address investment barriers and encourage private capital to support projects with substantial economic potential.
“Such arrangements could enable public and private-sector participants to share risks, structure financing more effectively and pursue development objectives while taking account of commercial realities.
“For countries seeking to expand infrastructure, strengthen manufacturing and improve productive capacity, the mobilisation of private capital remains an important part of the wider development equation.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, who was represented at the forum by a senior public servant and Director at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Nigeria, Mrs Chinonyelum Ndidi, delivered a presentation on Nigeria’s economic transformation agenda into the international conversation on investment and cross-border business cooperation.
Oyedele added, “Governments and project sponsors must develop proposals capable of attracting financing, meeting commercial requirements and supporting sustainable business activity.
The Chairman of Hinduja Group Europe, Prakash Hinduja, reflected on the Hinduja Group’s evolution and international reach, offering a corporate perspective on entrepreneurship, cross-border commerce and long-term investment.
He noted that emerging economies could participate more effectively in the international economy when access to capital, entrepreneurial capacity and cross-border commercial relationships reinforce one another.