South African Government (Pretoria)
15 November 2008
document
Washington, DC — Reforms to the international financial system agreed on at the summit of leaders of the G20 grouping of countries would entail far better representation for African countries in the international financial institutions than is currently the case, said South African President Kgalema Motlanthe in this statement issued after the summit.
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, supported by the Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and a high level delegation, today, Saturday 15 November 2008, concluded deliberations at the Group of 20 (G-20) Leaders Summit on Financial Markets, Washington DC, United States.
The G-20 Leaders Summit on Financial Markets was hosted by the President of the United States of America George Bush, following a meeting of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G-20 in São Paulo, Brazil on Sunday 9 November 2008, during which the causes of, and policy responses to, the global financial crisis was discussed and perspectives on scenarios going forward shared.
South Africa, as the only G-20 member country from Africa, was asked to convey an African perspective by the African Finance Ministers, who recently met in Tunis, to consider the impact of the crisis for our continent.
The G-20 Leaders Summit on Financial Markets also takes place when African economies were making significant progress, and are now threatened by the global financial crisis. As a result, the current crisis has the potential to exacerbate the impact of the recent volatility in food and commodity markets.
In this regard, the G-20 Leaders Summit, which includes key developed and emerging market countries, agreed on:
President Motlanthe said that, while the financial crisis originates in the rich countries, it perpetuated a sudden and sharp increase in the borrowing costs of developing countries and in many cases their currencies have fallen dramatically too.
In conclusion, President Motlanthe welcomed the steps already taken by the World Bank and the IMF and called upon them to keep up the admirable promises to increase aid to Africa and ready themselves to provide appropriate support to avoid contagion.
President Motlanthe is expected to arrive back to South Africa on Sunday, 16 November 2008.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 South African Government. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
A very well thought out analysis, though I disagree with “South Africa should support France and Germany in pursuing financial regulatory reform”. While reform is obviously needed, it must be remembered that neither of the mentioned economies would exist in present form, or be any where near as powerful, without having followed the American model; a model not completely right and in need of adjustment, to be sure, but a basis on which the modern world has been built. The words of commenter ‘Mohagany’ as to the electric power required are an absolute : without the power to drive the engines of commerce, any nation so lacking will forever be relegated to secondary, at best, status.
These are good observations. Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa should really think of a super electric grid, Europe and Northern Africa is building a Mediterrean Ring electric interconnection. Talk of economic development without an adequate energy infrastructure is a non-starter.
See all comments (2).
Active Discussions: G20 Summit on Global Financial Crisis