SHORT ON CONCRETE ACTION
ADEKEYE ADEBAJO: G-20 will again fall short with Africa plan
"Much of the G-20’s 34 commitment to Africa issued since 2009 could simply have been ditched in the rubbish heaps of the various G-20 capitals almost before the ink had dried on the pieces of paper"
The Group of Twenty (G-20) met at the weekend in the German port city of Hamburg. This is a grouping — with SA as the only African member — that represents two-thirds of the global population, 85% of its economic output and 80% of world trade. It has pretentious ambitions to co-ordinate the global economy, but in fact, has no secretariat or implementing committees and none of its resolutions are legally binding. G-20 summits between 2008 and 2010 focused on the global financial crisis, stressing growth, financial regulation, bail-outs and the need to avoid protectionist trade wars. Since 2010, the group has focused on green growth, energy security, finance, trade, structural reform and development. Debt has increasingly dominated debates as the euro-crisis deepened. In a bout of "euphoric planning", G-20 leaders pledged in 2014 to raise global growth by 2%, as if they wielded magic wands. In Hamburg, the grouping has again acted like European alchemists seeking to turn lead into gol...
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