The G20 of Finance discusses in Brazil the green transition and taxes on the rich

The Ministers of Economy of the G20 They meet between this Wednesday and Thursday in São Paulo (Brazil) with the financing of the ecological transition, the taxation of large fortunes and the fight against inequality at the center of the debates.

Brazil, which holds the presidency of the forum that brings together the largest economies on the planet, is the host of this first ministerial meeting in the field of finance that takes place a week after the meeting of foreign ministers held in Rio de Janeiro.

This time the chosen setting is São Paulo, the financial center of the most powerful economy in Latin America, where nearly 450 delegates have arrived representing the members of the G20 and the nine countries and 17 international organizations invited.

The meeting, which is also attended by the governors of the Central Banks, takes place in a volatile global context, marked by new geopolitical tensions and in the midst of the debate regarding the pace of the monetary flexibility process, after the post-pandemic inflationary escalation.

At a macroeconomic level, optimism is contained, since global growth is expected between 2.4% and the 3.1% this year, a positive trend that will continue a priori in 2025, according to forecasts from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

However, emerging economies, some of which are in the G20, such as Brazil, Mexico, India, Indonesia and South Africa, are feeling more the effects of the growth of public debt and interest rates, which have broken records in these last.

Brazil will propose a tax on “super rich”

During its mandate in the G20, Brazil wants to promote concrete measures for a “fair development”.

The Brazilian Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, who is expected to participate remotely after testing positive for covid, anticipated that he will propose establishing a unified taxation for large fortunes, similar to the one approved last year in his country.

The NGO Oxfam has supported the initiative and in a report released on Monday noted that a tax of up to 5% to the wealth and profits of the richest in the G20 countries would be enough to end world hunger.

A concrete result in this regard seems difficult. This Tuesday, the coordinator of the G20 Finance groups and secretary of International Affairs of the Brazilian Ministry of Finance, Tatiana Rosito, said that they are working on a joint statement “short” that reflects the priorities of the Presidency of Brazil.

These are: combating inequalities and poverty, promoting an ecological transition with social justice and reforming multilateral financial institutions, which Brazil considers ineffective in responding to current challenges.

“We hope that the debates will give us opportunities to exchange ideas and advance the formation of consensus,” in a world with “multiple crises and conflicts”, Rosito pointed out.

The US calls for tightening the siege on Russia

On the other hand, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged her allies on Tuesday to work on legal formulas to ‘unfreeze’ the value of Russian assets that they keep blocked, in order to help finance Ukraine. .

At a press conference in São Paulo, Yellen said that “the easiest thing” may be to confiscate the Russian assets that are blocked, although she stressed that the United States and its allies must take measures together and in accordance with international law.

“We have to show the Kremlin that we will be by Ukraine’s side for as long as it takes”he warned.

The Russian Finance Minister, Anton Siluanov, is not scheduled to appear at the G20 meeting, although he is in São Paulo for a meeting of the BRICS forum, which Russia is a member of along with Brazil, India, China, South Africa and the recently incorporated countries. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Yellen also advocated continuing to impose sanctions on Russia to restrict Moscow’s access to the material means and funds necessary to continue the war against Ukraine, which has just passed two years with no foreseeable end.