G20 finance chiefs' meeting kicks off: Treasury 'quietly confident' communique will be signed

National Treasury DG Duncan Pieterse and Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Rashad Cassim make time to join Stephen Grootes on The Money Show.

G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) kicked off their 2025 meeting on Thursday in Kwazulu-Natal, amid trade tensions as the US administration dishes out its tariff rates to trading partners.

In his opening remarks, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the international forum must remain a source of strategic global leadership, cooperation, and action in the face of complex challenges the world faces. 

While inflation is gradually moderating and financial conditions have started to stabilise in some regions, uncertainty continues to weigh heavily on global growth prospects, he said.

Godongwana highlighted rising trade barriers, persistent global imbalances and new geopolitical risks as significant concerns.

Nonetheless, Treasury DG Duncan Pieterse says they are 'quietly confident' that a communique will be signed on Friday.

"It would of course be quite a significant achievement because a communique  means there is consensus amongst the members of the G20 on a range of different issues and I think at a time like now, that kind of achievement is quite remarkable."

Duncan Pieterse, Director General - National Treasury

Among the many different elements of a G20 communique, he cites how finance chiefs see the global economy evolving, the reform of multilateral development banks, and mechanisms to unlock sustainable finance.

"There is quite a lot of detail and that's why negotiating a communique often takes a lot of time."

Duncan Pieterse, Director General - National Treasury

While US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is not present due to domestic obligations, Pieterse gives the assurance that representatives from the US have contributed constructively to the meetings held last week and earlier this week in preparation for the FMCBG gathering in KZN.

The SARB's Rashad Cassim also emphasizes the importance of this prep work to lay the foundation for the meeting of the G20 finance heads, which he likens to a relay match.

"The G20 has many priorities and some of them can get more traction related to others....  but we took over some important issues from the previous presidency Brazil, and so forth... and we've confirmed that some momentum has been built."

Rashad Cassim, Deputy Governor - South African Reserve Bank

"One of the successes of the G20 is that it works particularly well when there's crisis management. It worked particularly well in the great financial crisis and the COVID crisis... and now everyone is talking about tariff uncertainty."

Rashad Cassim, Deputy Governor - South African Reserve Bank

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