The Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs committed to international policy cooperation in a communique adopted on Friday, finding rare consensus amid escalating tensions over the US trade war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe global economy is facing heightened uncertainty and complex challenges, including ongoing wars and conflicts, geopolitical and trade tension,\u201d the communique said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe emphasize the importance of strengthening multilateral cooperation to address existing and emerging risks to the global economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agreement, forged during the G-20 summit in South Africa\u2019s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, was reached despite simmering tensions over US President Donald Trump\u2019s trade war, which is set to intensify when higher tariffs take effect on 1 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have strained the G-20\u2019s multilateral foundations and complicated South Africa\u2019s efforts \u2014 as this year\u2019s rotating president \u2014 to keep the group\u2019s agenda on course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fact that all members consented to language covering debt relief, climate finance, tax cooperation, and financial stability during such a period demonstrates the success of the approach that we have adopted,\u201d said South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the first G-20 communique this year.\u00a0Tariffs were not explicitly mentioned in the five-page document. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Godongwana played that down, noting it was a relatively recent issue \u201cand in any case I feel that our discussion on the broad number issues affecting global growth have included the range of risk to economic growth, without singling out tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The G-20 communique did note the importance of the World Trade Organization to advance trade issues, while adding that it recognized \u201cthe WTO has challenges and needs meaningful, necessary, and comprehensive reform to improve all its functions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials also sided with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who Trump has excoriated for opposing him by not lowering interest rates, out of concern the levies could spur inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCentral banks are strongly committed to ensuring price stability, consistent with their respective mandates, and will continue to adjust their policies in a data-dependent manner,\u201d the communique said. \u201cCentral bank independence is crucial to achieving this goal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago told reporters at a closing press conference that the issue of independence \u201ccame out strongly in the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Powell did not attend this G-20, with the Fed being represented by Vice Chair Philip Jefferson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The communique also included a prominent reference to \u201cfrequent extreme weather events and natural disasters\u2019 which impact economic growth, financial and price stability.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climate-change language has been a sticking point with the Trump administration in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent skipped the event in favor of a trip to Japan, but Washington still sent a delegation to represent its interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By imposing trade levies, scorning South Africa\u2019s G-20 motto of \u201csolidarity, equality and sustainability\u201d and pulling billions of dollars in funding for climate finance and international aid, the US is testing a world order that has dominated since the end of World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That makes achieving a communique all the more impressive, said German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil prior to its adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a major achievement for the G-20 presidency, which has conducted these negotiations with prudence and skill,\u201d he told reporters at the gathering, at a lush resort on the Indian Ocean near the port city of Durban. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Issuing the communique sends \u201ca strong signal in favor of multilateralism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, tariff uncertainty has dented global economic growth. The International Monetary Fund in April cut its projection for 2025 to 2.8% from a January forecast of 3.3% and IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, who attended the G-20, said that while financial conditions have improved, vigilance was important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile we will update our global forecast at the end of July, downside risks continue to dominate the outlook and uncertainty remains high,\u201d she said in a statement as the gathering concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
G20 finance ministers have put up a united front in the face of war, conflict and US trade tensions\u2014finding common ground despite the United States’ snub.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":812932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[17448,7185],"class_list":["post-832166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-enoch-godongwana","tag-g20"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832166"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":832168,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832166\/revisions\/832168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}