WEDNESDAY, 3.30PM:
SOUTH Africa is to be the only African member of a new grouping of nations — the G-22 — established in the United States last week, according to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
The grouping, established by the US Federal Reserve, consists of the G-10 (most powerful economies) and 12 other economically important countries. It may replace the G-10 in time, as the space for consensus is seen to be greater.
Manuel believes South Africa will be able to argue the position of poor African countries, especially the need for debt relief.
The G-22 has three tasks: burden-sharing, government transparency and financial services regulation. The Reserve Bank will represent South Africa on the burden-sharing task group, which will examine how much of the burden of financial crises — such as that of Asia — is privatised, and how much is socialised.
The financial regulation group will deal with the problem of domestic supervisory institutions having to regulate international banks with international exposure.