The G-20 Yields Only Unfulfilled Promises for Latin America

Last June, the heads of government of the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G-20) met in Toronto, for the fourth G-20 summit to discuss global finance reform, and problems and prospects facing the world economy. The G-20’s past accomplishments, including financial reforms and recovery after the global financial crisis in 2008, arguably have mainly benefited the world’s most industrialized and developed nations, while producing relatively few results for the developing countries. For the next G-20 summit, the Latin American representatives—Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico—should learn vital lessons from Toronto and must not allow themselves to be bullied by more developed countries into giving up some of the financial reforms the region requires to achieve economic growth.

History of the G-20

In response to the financial crises of the late 1990s, the G-20 was created with the intention of integrating rising economies with existing industrialized powers to foster sustainable economic growth worldwide. The G-20 is made up of the finance ministers and central bank governors of nineteen countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States. The European Union is the twentieth member of the G-20. In addition, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the President of the World Bank also meet with the G-20 to ensure that their global institutions operate in unison with G-20 resolutions. The G-20 represents ninety percent of the world’s economic output, involving seventy-five percent of all world trade, and accounting for approximately two-thirds of the world’s population.1 Many had hoped that the G-20 would be prepared to give more global emphasis to the voices of important emerging-market economies such as Brazil.

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