South Africa Hosts G20 Framework Working Group Meeting

This week, technical meetings for the Group of 20 (G20) Finance Track began with a meeting of the Framework Working Group (FWG). These meetings follow South Africa's start of G20 Presidency by hosting the G20 Sherpa and Finance Track Meetings last month.

The National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank are jointly in charge of overseeing the G20 Finance Track's work.

"The mandate of the FWG is to promote strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth, and does so by identifying, monitoring and assessing global macroeconomic risks, vulnerabilities and uncertainties and recommending suitable policy responses to global shocks and cross-cutting global challenges," National Treasury said, SA News reported.

The G20 is a group of both developed and developing countries that together represent about 85% of the world's GDP and 75% of international trade, making the FWG an important part of the global economy.

The first day of the meeting on Monday focused on challenges to global growth, inflation risks related to supply and demand, and fiscal risks affecting growth and inflation. There was also a discussion on Africa's economic outlook.

On the second day, the meeting covered the draft work plan for the FWG in 2025, including key priority areas identified by South Africa's G20 Presidency.

South Africa's priorities for the G20 include improving global economic resilience against risks like fragmentation and economic imbalances, strengthening macroeconomic growth in the face of climate change, and examining the effects of labor productivity, technological development, and demographic changes.

This week's FWG meeting is the first of four planned for the year. The other three meetings will be held in April, June, and September at various locations across the country.

The results from these meetings will help guide discussions at future meetings of Finance and Central Bank Deputies, as well as Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. The G20 Leaders' Summit is expected to take place in the second half of 2025.

Last month, South Africa began its G20 Presidency by starting the first of over 130 meetings leading up to the G20 Summit in 2025 as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola officially opened the first G20 Sherpas Meeting in Johannesburg.