Erosion of multilateralism threatens global stability: South Africa leader
Agence France-Presse
February 26, 2025
President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the opening of G20 finance talks
- 'Dangerous world' -
The Cape Town meeting was attended by finance ministers from Britain, Switzerland and France as well as deputy ministers and other senior central bank and finance officials.
Britain's Finance Minister Rachel Reeves would stress at the talks that bolstering defense spending was necessary for economic growth, the UK Treasury said in a statement.
"It's clear we are facing a more dangerous world," Reeves was quoted as saying. "National security will always be the first responsibility of this government and is the bedrock economic growth."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged Tuesday to boost defence spending to 2.5 percent of the economy by 2027, as uncertainty reigns over Trump's commitment to European security while he pursues talks with Russia over its war in Ukraine.
Ramaphosa said South Africa's priorities for its year at the helm of the G20 included strengthening the resilience of poorer countries to cope with natural disasters.
"The increasing rate of climate-induced natural disasters is disproportionately affecting countries that can least afford the costs of recovery and rebuilding," he said, calling for "innovative financing and insurance mechanisms" to boost funding for disaster prevention and reconstruction.
Another priority is to help developing economies cope with debt repayments, he said.
"In recent years, low- and middle-income countries have seen their levels of sovereign debt and the cost of servicing that debt rise substantially," he said.
"Debt service costs are increasingly crowding out spending on education, healthcare and other social services, as well as infrastructure needed for economic development."
The UN Development Programme said in a statement ahead of the meeting that ballooning debt service payments in the poorest countries had reached alarming levels and called for "bold, immediate" action to overhaul the borrowing system.
Interest payments exceed 10 percent of government revenue in 56 developing countries, nearly double the number from a decade ago, it said.
© Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
February 26, 2025
President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the opening of G20 finance talks
(RODGER BOSCH)
The erosion of multilateralism threatens global growth and stability, President Cyril Ramaphosa warned Wednesday at a G20 finance meeting in South Africa marked by the absence of the U.S. Treasury secretary.
Two days of talks by finance ministers and central bank governors from the world's leading economies opened a week after a meeting of G20 foreign ministers was snubbed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who complained of its "anti-Americanism".
"The erosion of multilateralism presents a threat to global growth and stability," Ramaphosa said in his opening address.
"At this time of heightened geopolitical contestation, a rules-based order is particularly important as a mechanism for managing disputes and resolving conflict," he said.
The G20, a grouping of 19 countries as well as the European Union and the African Union, is divided on key issues from Russia's war in Ukraine to climate change, with world leaders scrambling to respond to drastic policy shifts from Washington since the return of US President Donald Trump.
"Multilateral cooperation is our only hope of overcoming unprecedented challenges, including slow and uneven growth, rising debt burdens, persistent poverty and inequality, and the existential threat of climate change," Ramaphosa said.
South Africa this year holds the rotating G20 presidency and has chosen the theme "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability".
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on February 20 that he would not attend the Cape Town meeting because he was too busy.
Just days before, Rubio had accused the G20 hosts of an "anti-American" agenda. It followed criticism from President Donald Trump about land reforms in South Africa aimed at redressing inequalities perpetrated during the apartheid era.
"South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote 'solidarity, equality, and sustainability,'" Rubio wrote on social media.
The Group of 20 brings together the world's largest economies, which together represent around 85 percent of global GDP, to discuss international economic and financial stability.
The erosion of multilateralism threatens global growth and stability, President Cyril Ramaphosa warned Wednesday at a G20 finance meeting in South Africa marked by the absence of the U.S. Treasury secretary.
Two days of talks by finance ministers and central bank governors from the world's leading economies opened a week after a meeting of G20 foreign ministers was snubbed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who complained of its "anti-Americanism".
"The erosion of multilateralism presents a threat to global growth and stability," Ramaphosa said in his opening address.
"At this time of heightened geopolitical contestation, a rules-based order is particularly important as a mechanism for managing disputes and resolving conflict," he said.
The G20, a grouping of 19 countries as well as the European Union and the African Union, is divided on key issues from Russia's war in Ukraine to climate change, with world leaders scrambling to respond to drastic policy shifts from Washington since the return of US President Donald Trump.
"Multilateral cooperation is our only hope of overcoming unprecedented challenges, including slow and uneven growth, rising debt burdens, persistent poverty and inequality, and the existential threat of climate change," Ramaphosa said.
South Africa this year holds the rotating G20 presidency and has chosen the theme "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability".
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on February 20 that he would not attend the Cape Town meeting because he was too busy.
Just days before, Rubio had accused the G20 hosts of an "anti-American" agenda. It followed criticism from President Donald Trump about land reforms in South Africa aimed at redressing inequalities perpetrated during the apartheid era.
"South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote 'solidarity, equality, and sustainability,'" Rubio wrote on social media.
The Group of 20 brings together the world's largest economies, which together represent around 85 percent of global GDP, to discuss international economic and financial stability.
- 'Dangerous world' -
The Cape Town meeting was attended by finance ministers from Britain, Switzerland and France as well as deputy ministers and other senior central bank and finance officials.
Britain's Finance Minister Rachel Reeves would stress at the talks that bolstering defense spending was necessary for economic growth, the UK Treasury said in a statement.
"It's clear we are facing a more dangerous world," Reeves was quoted as saying. "National security will always be the first responsibility of this government and is the bedrock economic growth."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged Tuesday to boost defence spending to 2.5 percent of the economy by 2027, as uncertainty reigns over Trump's commitment to European security while he pursues talks with Russia over its war in Ukraine.
Ramaphosa said South Africa's priorities for its year at the helm of the G20 included strengthening the resilience of poorer countries to cope with natural disasters.
"The increasing rate of climate-induced natural disasters is disproportionately affecting countries that can least afford the costs of recovery and rebuilding," he said, calling for "innovative financing and insurance mechanisms" to boost funding for disaster prevention and reconstruction.
Another priority is to help developing economies cope with debt repayments, he said.
"In recent years, low- and middle-income countries have seen their levels of sovereign debt and the cost of servicing that debt rise substantially," he said.
"Debt service costs are increasingly crowding out spending on education, healthcare and other social services, as well as infrastructure needed for economic development."
The UN Development Programme said in a statement ahead of the meeting that ballooning debt service payments in the poorest countries had reached alarming levels and called for "bold, immediate" action to overhaul the borrowing system.
Interest payments exceed 10 percent of government revenue in 56 developing countries, nearly double the number from a decade ago, it said.
© Agence France-Presse
After US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed he would not attend, finance ministers from Japan, India and Canada also pulled out WTF?!
Reuters Published 26.02.25
People walk at the Cape Town International Convention Centre during the G20 Finance Ministers meeting in Cape Town, South Africa February 25, 2025.Reuters
South Africa sought to salvage international talks on tackling global poverty on Wednesday as finance chiefs of several leading economies skipped a gathering of Group of 20 nations in Cape Town held against a backdrop of foreign aid cuts.
The two-day meeting comes after the Trump administration announced plans to gut its USAID arm and Britain slashed its aid budget by 40% to divert funds towards defence spending.
Disputes over trade, the Ukraine war and how to tackle climate change have long made it hard for the G20 grouping to make serious progress on global challenges, but the latest no-shows risk further undermining its credibility.
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After U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed he would not attend, finance ministers from Japan, India and Canada also pulled out. Others cut short their presence and the European Union's top economic official chose to stay away.
"It is now more important than ever that the members of the G20 work together," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in opening remarks appealing for multilateral cooperation.
"It is vital to ensuring that the rights and interests of the vulnerable are not trampled beneath the ambitions of the powerful," he said.
The high-profile absences further reduce chances of agreement on a meaningful communique at the end of the meeting.
There also seemed little hope of major progress on issues that Ramaphosa as host wanted to target: scant climate finance from rich nations and reform of a financial system that penalises poor countries, as well as widening inequalities.
South Africa's central bank governor, Lesetja Kganyago, noted that a number of recent G20 meetings had finished without agreement on a communique and that the fact that some countries were being represented by deputy ministers was not a problem.
"There is no one in the room then saying ... 'I'm going to make this point, but I think I am too junior so they might ignore it'," he told Reuters.
British finance minister Rachel Reeves defended her country's diversion of foreign aid funds towards greater defence spending.
"It's clear we are facing a more dangerous world, and I will not hide from this reality," she said in a statement, adding that investment, free trade and reforms were the best ways of achieving sustainable growth.
Alex van den Heever, political scientist at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, said the absence of the United States from G20 talks - it also declined to send its top diplomat to a meeting of G20 foreign ministers last week - "makes it very difficult to see how people will move forward".
Climate woes
South Africa had hoped to make the G20 a platform for putting pressure on rich countries to do more to tackle climate change, and to give more towards poorer countries' transitions to green energy and adaptation to worsening weather.
Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told Reuters the climate change scepticism of U.S. President Donald Trump would "reconfigure the conversation" on green energy.
"Where it leads is anyone's guess," he said, adding that some countries might reconsider the scale and pace of their transition from fossil fuels to green energy as a result.
Some analysts said the retreat of the G20's biggest economy from the discussions raised questions about its relevance. Others saw an opportunity for moving ahead without the United States.
"There could very well be synergies between large portions of what's left by excluding the U.S. on particular issues," said Daniel Silke, director of the Political Futures Consultancy.
"It's an opportunity for South Africa to take its leadership role."
S Africa's G20 presidency to prioritise climate finance as US cuts support
Africa, which has about 30 percent of the world's critical minerals reserves but attracts only three percent of global energy investments each year, wants to rely on that wealth to fund climate action.
"Significantly more funding is required to limit (the) global temperature rise in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement", Ramaphosa says. / Photo: Reuters
South Africa's G20 presidency this year will prioritise efforts to help developing countries finance their shift to a low-carbon economy, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said, even as the United States radically scales back its support.
President Donald Trump's administration, whose top officials have skipped two meetings of the Group of 20 nations held in South Africa this week and last, has cut overseas aid programmes, raising concerns of a potential clean energy funding shortfall.
"Significantly more funding is required to limit (the) global temperature rise in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and to do so in a manner that is equitable and just," Ramaphosa said on Wednesday at the opening of a G20 finance ministers and central bankers' meeting in Cape Town.
Despite being the first country to agree to a so-called Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) deal, to help it shift away more quickly from burning climate-damaging coal for energy, South Africa has struggled to get the money it needs.
Launched at the UN climate conference in 2021, JETPs aim to bring together money from governments, multilateral lenders and the private sector to renewable energy projects in a way that benefits local communities.
Similar deals have been struck with countries including Indonesia and Vietnam.
However, the US move to cut development funding, and similar actions in Europe where some governments including the United Kingdom are redirecting overseas development cash to defence budgets, has been weighing on minds at the gathering in Cape Town. Major energy companies are also slashing investment in renewables, refocusing on oil and gas.
Annual global climate financing has risen since 2018, but the share going to poorer nations in, for example, Africa has lagged, with officials estimating the continent's share at under 5 percent.
Ambitious targets for COP30
South Africa will push G20 members to spearhead the drive to set ambitious targets for climate action for the next round of UN climate talks in Brazil later this year, Ramaphosa said.
"We continue to advocate for greater concessional and grant funding to support the energy transition in developing economies," he said.
As droughts, floods and other extreme weather events pick up in frequency and severity, he called for more funding to cushion the least-polluting countries from the worst impacts of climate change, and further development of carbon markets.
South Africa will also push for an agreement to harness critical minerals - which are key to the world's energy transition - to support economic growth and decarbonisation, Ramaphosa said.
Africa, which has about 30 percent of the world's critical minerals reserves but attracts only 3 percent of global energy investments each year, wants to rely on that wealth to fund climate action.
"As minerals extraction accelerates to match the needs of the energy transition, the countries and local communities endowed with these resources must be the ones to benefit the most," Ramaphosa said.
Africa, which has about 30 percent of the world's critical minerals reserves but attracts only three percent of global energy investments each year, wants to rely on that wealth to fund climate action.
"Significantly more funding is required to limit (the) global temperature rise in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement", Ramaphosa says. / Photo: Reuters
South Africa's G20 presidency this year will prioritise efforts to help developing countries finance their shift to a low-carbon economy, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said, even as the United States radically scales back its support.
President Donald Trump's administration, whose top officials have skipped two meetings of the Group of 20 nations held in South Africa this week and last, has cut overseas aid programmes, raising concerns of a potential clean energy funding shortfall.
"Significantly more funding is required to limit (the) global temperature rise in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and to do so in a manner that is equitable and just," Ramaphosa said on Wednesday at the opening of a G20 finance ministers and central bankers' meeting in Cape Town.
Despite being the first country to agree to a so-called Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) deal, to help it shift away more quickly from burning climate-damaging coal for energy, South Africa has struggled to get the money it needs.
Launched at the UN climate conference in 2021, JETPs aim to bring together money from governments, multilateral lenders and the private sector to renewable energy projects in a way that benefits local communities.
Similar deals have been struck with countries including Indonesia and Vietnam.
However, the US move to cut development funding, and similar actions in Europe where some governments including the United Kingdom are redirecting overseas development cash to defence budgets, has been weighing on minds at the gathering in Cape Town. Major energy companies are also slashing investment in renewables, refocusing on oil and gas.
Annual global climate financing has risen since 2018, but the share going to poorer nations in, for example, Africa has lagged, with officials estimating the continent's share at under 5 percent.
Ambitious targets for COP30
South Africa will push G20 members to spearhead the drive to set ambitious targets for climate action for the next round of UN climate talks in Brazil later this year, Ramaphosa said.
"We continue to advocate for greater concessional and grant funding to support the energy transition in developing economies," he said.
As droughts, floods and other extreme weather events pick up in frequency and severity, he called for more funding to cushion the least-polluting countries from the worst impacts of climate change, and further development of carbon markets.
South Africa will also push for an agreement to harness critical minerals - which are key to the world's energy transition - to support economic growth and decarbonisation, Ramaphosa said.
Africa, which has about 30 percent of the world's critical minerals reserves but attracts only 3 percent of global energy investments each year, wants to rely on that wealth to fund climate action.
"As minerals extraction accelerates to match the needs of the energy transition, the countries and local communities endowed with these resources must be the ones to benefit the most," Ramaphosa said.
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Joint letter: Tax the super-rich for a green and just future for everyone
This open letter calls on G20 Finance Ministers to engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed. This means investing in more progressive taxation for individuals and corporations, closing tax loopholes, and supporting a more inclusive platform for international tax negotiations that is rooted in equity and justice.
