Impact of SA's G20 Presidency on the global agenda

The article discusses South Africa's successful G20 presidency under President Cyril Ramaphosa, who hailed the summit's declaration as ushering in a new era of multilateralism, despite a U.S. boycott and rejection of South Africa's agenda to support developing nations with clean energy transitions, debt relief, and climate adaptation. The presidency is viewed as a victory for Africa and the Global South, where about 50 countries—mostly African—spend more on debt servicing than basic services. In an interview, Farai Muti, CEO of the Southern African Times and head of Sangopa Capital, analyzes the G20's commitments to debt restructuring, cancellation, forgiveness, and renegotiation, predicting potential exponential relief if implemented. He argues implementation is economically viable due to Africa's status as an investment frontier with over 4% projected GDP growth (per IMF), though political will may falter with the U.S. assuming G20 leadership. On the 'African risk premium' inflating debt interest rates, Muti attributes much of it to perception rather than reality, noting political instability affects less than 20% of the continent; he cites African Development Bank reports and urges data-driven analysis, multilateral African financial collaboration, and highlighting rising domestic investments to counter colonial-era biases. To shift attitudes among Bretton Woods institutions and major lenders like China, he advocates strengthening domestic economic fundamentals, collective regional negotiations (e.g., joint approaches to China instead of individual countries like Zambia or Zimbabwe), leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for infrastructure and climate response, and using shared resources like strategic minerals for bargaining power. The absence of an African central bank or unified bond market hinders collective leverage, but intra-African trade policies, tariff regimes, and examples like Standard Bank's expansion across the continent can build market scale to attract external investment, positioning Africa as a unified, low-risk economic powerhouse.