Image of a Senegal coin showing a deer and Latin text, highlighting national currency and symbolism.
South Africa’s markets rallied on Friday after Pretoria successfully hosted a G20 finance meeting, concluding with the first joint communique since October 2024. South Africa’s theme for its G20 presidency is “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability.” During its term, the country intends to shine a spotlight on African issues, such as climate finance and the high cost of capital. The communique, which signals that G20 chiefs reached an agreement on several key issues, buoyed South African markets, lifting the rand by 0.6% and boosting the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Top-40 and All-Share indices by over 1%. Analysts noted that strong commodities helped the local bourse hover near record highs. Meanwhile, all eyes turn to upcoming inflation data and business cycle indicators, though markets seem to expect only one more rate cut this year.
Reuters