G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies meeting concludes

The G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies meeting has wrapped up in Johannesburg.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says amongst issues that South Africa will be pushing for during its presidency are high public debt and the cost of capital hindering development in many developing nations.

He says enhancing the public debt sustainability of developing countries, which is an important issue in the Finance Track, will continue to be top of the agenda during South Africa’s G20 presidency.

South Africa’s presidency of the G20 will put to the fore challenges faced by Africa and other developing nations.

Godongwana says reviewing the cost of capital for developing countries is important as it presents significant constraints to economic growth. He says the issue of public debt and debt servicing costs, continues to be a big issue for the continent and other developing countries.

“The debt issue has always been occupying the finance track. Those who have been following the finance track will know that we have something called the common framework, whose main focus is the resolution of the debt of Africa and the developing nations. The countries that are benefiting in that framework at the moment are largely African countries. We have just concluded the Zambian one, we are dealing with Ghana now. It’s part of that common frame. That in itself is insufficient, we need a better review of the common framework, it’s insufficient to deal with the kind of challenges we are dealing with in terms of debt service costs and  debt to GDP in general,” says Godongwana.

South Africa says under its presidency, the G20 will focus on Africa and its challenges as well as those of developing countries.

“G20 is a unique once in a lifetime opportunity for us to influence the present and future of the global economy. It is also an opportunity to put Africa, front and centre of the global economy in a way that has not been possible before. Under SA presidency, we’ve held a series of G20 meetings in the past three days. Each has represented a crucial building block as our presidency commences, in these meetings, we have and will intentionally focus on Africa, given that we are the first African country to host the G20,” he adds.

Godongwana says a panel of experts led by former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel will be appointed to ensure the work of the Finance Track is supported.

The next meeting of the Finance and Central Bank Deputies will be held in February next year, where a report of the discussions from this December meeting will be consolidated and handed to finance ministers and central bank governors. This will form part of discussions at the heads of state meeting in November next year.

Video: The G20 Finance & Central Bank Deputies Meet