South African president expects G20 summit to boost global finance reform, address inequality

Cape Town Nov 7 (IANS) South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) Leaders' Summit is expected to take concrete steps to reform the global financial system while addressing the deepening divide of global wealth and income inequality.

Speaking during a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly in Cape Town on Thursday, Ramaphosa said South Africa's G20 presidency aims to "foster a more stable, a more effective and resilient international financial architecture."

He said one of the major outcomes envisaged from the summit, set to be held in Johannesburg later this month, is "an agreement on strengthening multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and African Development Bank." This would, he explained, build on work by Brazil's G20 presidency to make these institutions more effective in helping countries meet their sustainable development goals, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We expect the summit to make a political commitment to address debt vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries," Ramaphosa said. "These debt vulnerabilities constrain their fiscal space, their ability to address poverty and inequality, and their capacity to invest in growth and development."

He added that the Johannesburg Leaders' Declaration is expected to include "a commitment to further strengthen the implementation of the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatment in a predictable, timely and coordinated manner."

The summit, the president said, will urge the international community to support vulnerable countries with a strong reform agenda whose debt is sustainable but are facing liquidity challenges.

Addressing inequality, he said the G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Wealth Inequality, chaired by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, had submitted a landmark report this week. "The committee provided a comprehensive analysis of global inequality and recommended specific actions that leaders need to take to address this challenge," Ramaphosa said.

These actions, he added, include reforming international economic rules, fair taxation of multinationals, and the ultra-wealthy, and establishing "a new international and independent panel that will monitor inequality trends and ensure policies for addressing inequality."

--IANS

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