Trevor Manuel
Trevor Manuel is a South African politician and former Finance Minister (1996–2009), who later served as Minister in the Presidency for National Planning. He chairs the G20 Africa Expert Panel, appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the National Treasury in 2025 to advise on reducing Africa's cost of capital and debt sustainability during South Africa's G20 presidency. The panel, whose members include Nobel laureate economist Esther Duflo and former African Development Bank president Donald Kaberuka, produced a report calling for greater oversight of credit rating agencies, which it says apply biased methodologies that inflate African governments' borrowing costs, and recommended measures to mobilise concessional finance from multilateral development banks. The panel presented its findings to G20 leaders ahead of and during the Johannesburg G20 Leaders' Summit in November 2025, the first G20 summit held on African soil. Manuel previously served as a special envoy appointed to mobilise international economic support for the African Union's COVID-19 response when South Africa chaired the AU. He remains a prominent voice on African debt reform, the cost of capital, and international financial architecture reform.
Trevor Manuel Updates
On paper, it was Africa’s G20
By: ISS, Institute for Security Studies 5th December 2025 The G20 Leaders’ Summit Declaration in Johannesburg stressed Africa’s interests – but will it survive Trump? On paper, South Africa’s G20, which... →
South Africa’s Partial G20 Success in 2025
By: South African Institute of International Affairs 27th November 2025 South Africa’s G20 presidency has highlighted the continent’s financial challenges amid an urgent need for debt reform and access to sustainable... →
SA: Cyril Ramaphosa: Address by South Africa's President, at the opening of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, Johannesburg (22/11/2025)
24th November 2025 Shortly before the dawn of a democratic and free South Africa in 1994, the founding father of our democracy President, Nelson Mandela, said: “The... →
South Africa's G20 debt focus to be tested as US takes the chair
By: Reuters 24th November 2025 The G20's leadership is heading away from the Global South just as debt problems in poorer countries threaten to flare again, testing whether the... →
SA: Cyril Ramaphosa: Address by South Africa's President, to the B20 Summit, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg (20/11/2025)
21st November 2025 From every corner of the earth, people are returning to the Cradle of Humanity – to reflect on the state of our world and to chart a way forward to... →
Africa’s voice at the G20: Will Johannesburg deliver?
By: South African Institute of International Affairs 21st November 2025 As the first African-hosted G20 summit, Johannesburg offers a pivotal platform to amplify African priorities. South Africa’s G20 presidency comes... →
Africa experts call for greater oversight of ratings agencies in G20 report
By: Reuters 18th November 2025 A panel of Africa experts on Tuesday urged the Group of 20 major economies to step up oversight of credit rating agencies, which they accused of... →
Green - but hardly fresh: the PEAC’s 2025 Advisory Briefs
By: Econ3x3 29th September 2025 The Presidential Economic Advisory Council appointed last year has released its January Advisory Briefs. In support of South Africa’s G20... →
End of a Cycle? South Africa’s G20 Presidency and the Future of Global Cooperation
By: South African Institute of International Affairs 18th August 2025 South Africa closes the first cycle of G20 presidencies with a call to refocus on development, equality and cooperation amid rising fragmentation... →
SA: Cyril Ramaphosa: Address by South Africa's President, to the debate on the Presidency Budget Vote 2025/26, National Assembly, Parliament (17/07/2025)
18th July 2025 It is just over a year since the people of South Africa peacefully participated in elections that brought all of us to this Parliament to represent... →
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