Ramaphosa Calls For Collective Reform To Address Inequality

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed a high-level event at Wits University regarding global inequality. He said that addressing inequality requires collective architecture of reform and credible monitoring. Ramaphosa noted that actionable insights must guide governments, multinational agencies, academia, and civil society. The speech followed the publication of the first G20 Inequality Report last year. He stressed that social and economic development remains severely constrained by these disparities. He cited the G20 Inequality Report which shows the richest 1 percent of the global population captured 41 percent of all new wealth between 2000 and 2024. The report notes the poorer half of humanity captured only 1 percent of new wealth created in that period. A report commissioned by Ramaphosa and authored by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz recommends establishing an International Panel on Inequality (IPI). The proposed IPI would be modeled after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to promote multilateral cooperation. Stiglitz stated that the panel would help governments achieve policy-making for the common good based on evidence and facts.