South Africa hosting the G20 and B20 in 2025
What does this mean for the country and the continent?
South Africa has assumed the presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) and will host the annual meeting of these government leaders in November this year.
The G20 members collectively represent 85% of global GDP, approximately two thirds of the world’s population, and more than 75% of global trade1. Membership of the G20 has expanded over time from what was originally a Western-focused group to now include many countries of the Global South. This shift has seen a greater emphasis on issues that affect developing countries.
South Africa’s presidency marks the first time that the G20 has been held in Africa and hosted by an African country. South Africa is the only African country that is a permanent member of the G20. Given this, South Africa has a critical role to play to advocate for Africa, and to elevate the profile of issues that face the continent. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will host the forum, has already expressed his determination to put Africa’s development and the challenges faced by the Global South on the G20 agenda. Some of these most critical issues are access to financing, cost of finance, infrastructure, debt relief and trade with and within Africa. The imperatives of G20 align closely with aspects of South Africa’s transformation agenda, articulated within the 2024 National Budget under ‘Economic development’. In the 2025 National Budget we expect to see ongoing commitment to infrastructure programmes (such as water, energy, transport and logistics), industrialisation, job creation and innovation. In addition to the G20-related programme spend anticipated this year, government has committed to fund several departments that play a role in the country’s hosting of the G20. These include National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank who will lead the finance track, and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation who are leading the project management function, known as the Sherpa role.
South Africa has chosen three themes for the G20: Solidarity (an inclusive future centered on people), Equality (striving to ensure fair treatment and equal opportunities for all individuals and nations), and Sustainability (meeting the needs of the present without compromising the potential of the future). Addressing these themes with the overlay of an African perspective will be valuable in driving policies that can support the growth and development of the continent and South Africa.
The G20 comprises many sub-forums whose role it is to develop policy recommendations in line with the themes relevant to their sub-forum. The G20 business community is represented by the Business 20 (B20). The B20 2025 is being led by Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) who have outlined multiple themes of relevance to growing business in Africa and beyond. The overarching theme for the B20 this year is “Inclusive Growth and Prosperity through Global Cooperation”. Critical business-related issues will be addressed through the B20, such as increasing access to fairly-priced funding for African businesses, improving infrastructure on the continent such as power and water infrastructure, strengthening governance and reducing corruption, to name just a few.
The South African government estimates that hosting the G20 will cost the country close to R700 million. It is important to ensure that this investment is well leveraged. Most notably, this leverage will be achieved by ensuring that the recommendations made through G20, the B20, and the other sub-forums, are implemented as intended. This is not a small matter, when such recommendations will rely on multiple countries, industries, and multiple stakeholders to be rolled out. The B20 leadership has already expressed the importance of building on recommendations of past B20 events. The same commitment to continuity should be adopted by future forums, to ensure the longevity and relevance of the policy outcomes from South Africa 2025.
South Africa’s hosting of the G20 rounds off a four-year run in which the presidency was held by Global South countries: Indonesia 2022, India 2023, and Brazil 2024. The United States of America will take on the presidency for 2026 and will in all likelihood pivot the forum towards more Global North-focused issues. For the sake of Africa and the Global South, South Africa should use its influence as the current host to ensure that 2025’s policies and recommendations are implemented and continue to be relevant long into the future.
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1G20 South Africa 2025 website: https://g20.org/
