Nobel laureate Stiglitz to lead panel delivering G20 report on global inequality

CAPE TOWN - Nobel Prize-winning laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz is to lead an extraordinary committee of independent experts to deliver the G20’s first-ever report on global inequality.

As the current head of the G20, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday appointed the panel, which also includes two South African experts - Professor Imraan Valodia and Dr Wanga Zembe-Mkabile.

Ramaphosa said he was launching the committee amid macroeconomic fears that global wealth and income inequality, which are already very high, are set to accelerate sharply.

Recent studies show that the world’s richest one percent have increased their wealth so substantially since 2015, that they could eliminate annual global poverty 22 times over.

The Presidency says new shocks to global trade patterns, international financing and critical mineral flows, along with the problems associated with sovereign debt are creating uncertainties for policy makers, consumers and firms alike.

The experts appointed by the president are expected to report to the G20 on the state of wealthand income inequality, the impact this has on growth, poverty and multilateralism, and to present solutions to world leaders.

Presidency spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya: "South Africa’s G20 presidency is proud to launch an initiative that will target the issue of global wealth inequality, which is a first for the G20 and offers a practical way forward."

Economics professor, Joseph Stiglitz, said inequality was a choice and the G20 nations had the power to choose a different path on a range of economic and social policies.