As the baton of the G20 Presidency officially passes from South Africa to the United States for 2026, the global financial community is not looking toward Washington for the next set of rules—it is looking at the “Johannesburg Consensus.” For the first time in the forum’s history, an African nation has not merely occupied a seat at the table but has fundamentally redesigned the table itself.
The 2025 Presidency, framed under the theme “Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability,” concluded with a masterclass in “Multilateralism Without Permission.” Despite a fragmented geopolitical landscape and the high-profile absence of key Western leaders, South Africa secured a Leaders’ Declaration that elevates the Global South from a recipient of policy to a co-architect of the global financial architecture.
The End of “Aid Dependency” and the Rise of the AEF
The most significant industrial deliverable of the past year is the G20 Africa Engagement Framework (AEF) for 2026-2030. This is not another “aid” document. It is a legacy mechanism that mandates future G20 Presidencies to support Africa’s specific economic and financial objectives through a menu of result-driven policy options.
By launching the Ubuntu Legacy Initiative, South Africa has effectively institutionalized a pipeline for cross-border infrastructure projects. This initiative forces a paradigm shift: moving global capital from short-term “relief” toward long-term, investment-driven growth. For the global billionaire and the institutional investor, this provides a predictable, transparent roadmap for deploying capital into African productive sectors, healthcare, and digital infrastructure over the next five years.
The “Cost of Capital” Commission: Levelling the Playing Field
Perhaps the most “Forbes-standard” achievement of the 2025 Presidency was the establishment of the G20 Cost of Capital Commission. For decades, developing economies have been hampered by “sovereign risk premiums” that often bear little relation to economic fundamentals.
South Africa’s review of the Cost of Capital aims to dismantle the biases in sovereign credit ratings and reduce the risk premiums that stifle development. By making finance more affordable and predictable, the G20 is finally addressing the “debt-as-crisis” narrative and replacing it with a “debt-as-investment” instrument. This reform is foundational; without a fair cost of capital, “Just Energy Transitions” and “Sustainable Development Goals” remain aspirational rather than achievable.
The G20@20 Review: A Fit-for-Purpose Second Cycle
As the G20 completes its first full cycle since 2008, South Africa’s G20@20 Review has identified the critical friction points of the forum: an overly broad agenda and a lack of year-to-year continuity.
The recommendations for the second cycle—beginning now under the United States—emphasize accountability dashboards and a focus on fewer, high-impact priorities. South Africa has demanded that the rotation between advanced and emerging economies be balanced and predictable, ensuring that the voice of the Global South is not a once-in-two-decades anomaly but a permanent feature of global governance.
The Verdict: Performance Over Potential
The success of South Africa’s G20 Presidency was not in its pageantry, but in its diplomatic capital. By navigating a “Multipolar” world where major players signaled disaffection, President Cyril Ramaphosa proved that a committed, well-resourced presidency can preserve the multilateral space.
For 2026, the challenge for Africa is to maintain the momentum of the African Union’s permanent membership. The “Ubuntu” approach—the belief that we are only because others are—has been successfully scaled into a global economic strategy. The world no longer asks what it can do for Africa; it is finally asking what it can do with Africa.
