South Africa commissions an inequality report for G20 summit

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa said Thursday it has commissioned a report on global wealth inequality in time to present at the Group of 20 summit it hosts in November.

South Africa, which holds the rotating G20 presidency, said it has appointed American Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz to lead a group of six experts who will compile the report and present it to world leaders.

Kenya-based nonprofit Oxfam, which releases annual wealth inequality reports, said in June that the wealth of the richest 1% had surged by $33.9 trillion since 2015, enough to eliminate annual global poverty 22 times over. Meanwhile, 3.7 billion people, nearly half the world's population, live in poverty, the charity said.

Wealthy governments are also making the largest cuts to development aid for poor countries since aid records began in 1960, Oxfam said. It said global development goals were “abysmally off track.”

South Africa itself is ranked as one of the most unequal countries in the world.

The country says it wants to put the priorities of poor countries at the forefront of its G20 presidency. The G20 is a bloc of 19 rich and developing nations and also includes the European Union and African Union.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will likely skip the G20 summit because of a deterioration in relations between the U.S. and South Africa.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa