Pakistan will chair the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group in 2027, the first time it has held the post since 1953, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday, October 16, 2026.
Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Khan Cheema, who is Pakistan’s governor to the World Bank Group, was named incoming chair at the plenary session of the 2026 Annual Meetings in Bangkok. He was then briefed by the World Bank Group’s Corporate Secretariat on the duties of the office. He also met Corporate Secretary Aradhana Kumar-Capoor to discuss institutional support for Pakistan’s term, and sat down with the outgoing chair, Carlos Carvallo Spalding, governor of Paraguay’s central bank.
Pakistan last held the chair under Mohamad Ali in 1953
The previous Pakistani chair presided over the eighth annual meeting of the two institutions, held in Washington from September 9 to 12, 1953. An International Organization summary of the Bank’s proceedings names the chair as Mohamad Ali, Pakistan’s Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs. The post now returns to Pakistan 74 years later.
The 2027 Annual Meetings are scheduled for Washington, with a World Bank Board of Governors resolution adopted in January 2025 setting October 8, 2027 as the opening date. The IMF describes these meetings as the forum where governors decide how current monetary issues should be handled and approve resolutions, chaired by a governor on a rotating basis.
The chair presides; it does not set Pakistan’s terms
The role is a rotating, presiding one. Nothing in the ministry’s statement or the coverage of it ties the chairmanship to Pakistan’s own IMF programme, borrowing terms, or World Bank lending, so readers should not expect a direct effect on either.
What the statement does offer is Cheema’s stated agenda. He said Pakistan would push for a stronger voice for developing countries, more predictable development financing, better coordination among multilateral lenders, and more private capital for sustainable growth.
