Pretoria - While there is still a long way to go before the development goals pursued by Africa are met, President Jacob Zuma is "satisfied" with the progress made at this year's G20 meeting.
He said international economic cooperation to support stability and growth was strengthened at the two-day summit, held in Los Cabos, Mexico. Leaders engaged effectively with each other.
"We have also agreed to an accountability system which will help us ensure that we meet our commitments. Overall, we agreed that we should put more emphasis on growth. Fiscal consolidation should not be done too quickly. As leaders, we committed our resources to support the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its effort to avoid further global instability. This gave an important signal to the rest of the world," said Zuma.
The G20 refers to the group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors from the world's major economies.
G20 countries also agreed to the Los Cabos Action Plan. The plan demands that each country undertake different actions which together are intended to stabilise the global economy and support stronger growth.
Zuma added: "We have given support to our development agenda, more support for infrastructure investment in Africa, new strategies for agricultural development, support to strengthen taxation developing countries and new tools for inclusive green growth."
More work was still needed to reform international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank so that they can become more responsive to the needs of the developing world. More work must be done as well to mainstream the development agenda within the G20, the President said.
It was also announced during the summit that, along with fellow members of the G20, South Africa had committed to support the IMF's firewall fund, and would invest $2 billion of its reserves towards this effort.
The funds used for this purpose would be considered part of South Africa's foreign reserves. The Treasury moved to emphasise that the money could still be used by South Africa at a later stage.
South Africa's Brics partner China emerged as the biggest donor, giving the fund $43 billion. In total, $95.5 billion was pumped into the emergency fund that the global lender said would be used to lower future threats of economic recession around the world.
The G20 leaders' meeting this week concluded that strong, sustainable and balanced growth remained the top priority of the group, as it led to higher job creation and increased the welfare of people across the world.
A declaration issued at the end of the meeting said: "We are committed to adopting all necessary policy measures to strengthen demand, support global growth and restore confidence, address short and medium-term risks, enhance job creation and reduce unemployment, as reflected in the Los Cabos Growth and Jobs Action."
It said the global recovery had continued to face a number of challenges describing financial market tensions as high. External, fiscal and financial imbalances were still prevalent, having a major impact on growth and employment prospects and confidence.
"Clearly, the global economy remains vulnerable, with a negative impact on the everyday lives of people all over the world, affecting jobs, trade, development and the environment."
On the Eurozone crisis, the leaders agreed that the Euro Area members of the group would take all necessary policy measures to safeguard the integrity and stability of the area and improve the functioning of financial markets and break the feedback loop between sovereigns and banks.
"We look forward to the Euro Area working in partnership with the next Greek government to ensure they remain on the path to reform and sustainability within the Euro Area."
There should be commitment to a more conducive environment for development, including supporting infrastructure investment.
"Our policy actions will improve living conditions across the globe and protect the most vulnerable. In particular, by stabilising global markets and promoting stronger growth, we will generate significant positive effects on development and poverty reduction across the globe," the group said.
