SA sets up G20 inequality panel chaired by Stiglitz

South Africa has set up a panel to tackle extreme wealth inequality as part of its Group of Twenty (G20) chairmanship, a step that may irk the US.

The Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts was commissioned by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and will be chaired by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. It will present its first report on global inequality to G20 leaders, along with possible solutions to address the issue. South Africa is due to host the leaders in November.

Read: SA’s rising inequality and how to fix it

“People across the world know how extreme inequality undermines their dignity and chance for a better future,” Ramaphosa said in a statement on Thursday.

“They saw the brutal unfairness of vaccine apartheid, where millions in the Global South were denied the vaccines to save them. They see the impacts of rising food and energy prices, of debt, of trade wars, all driving this growing gap between the rich and the rest of the world, undermining progress and economic dynamism.”

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Recent analysis shows that since 2015, the world’s wealthiest 1% have increased their wealth by more than $33.9 trillion in real terms – more than enough to eliminate annual global poverty 22 times over.

“Inequality was always a choice, and G20 nations have the power to choose a different path, on a range of economic and social policies,” Stiglitz said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously criticised South Africa for using its G20 presidency to focus on “solidarity, equality and sustainability,” and boycotted a meeting of the group’s foreign ministers in Johannesburg in February in protest.

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