Group of 20 finance officials meet in South Africa from Thursday amid trade tensions, a global economic slowdown and Washington's threat to withdraw from multilateral organisations. President Cyril Ramaphosa has sought to leverage Africa's first G20 presidency to promote an African agenda,

G20 chair South Africa warned Thursday that abandoning the rules-based global order and declining cooperation could derail 2030 development goals to end hunger, eradicate extreme poverty and fight climate change.

This is not only a strategic investment — it is one that can boost growth, create business opportunities, and reduce pressure on public budgets in key member states,” said Klingbeil.

South Africa urged G20 countries to provide global and cooperative leadership to tackle challenges including rising trade barriers as the club's finance chiefs met on Thursday under the shadow of President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

The global economy has slowed and become less supportive of developing countries. African countries may be forced to resort to international capital markets to fill the gap in their development financing needs.

South Africa, hosting the G20 meeting, urged cooperative global leadership to tackle rising trade barriers, emphasized climate funding, and addressed high debt burdens. U.S. Treasury Secretary's absence highlighted challenges to unity.

DURBAN (Reuters) -G20 finance chiefs will meet in South Africa on Thursday under the shadow of President Donald Trump's tariff threats and questions over their ability to tackle global challenges together.

"The G20 was built around a presumption that all the world's major economies shared a common interest in a stable, relatively open global economy," said Brad Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations. "But Trump doesn't really care about stability and wants a more closed global economy."