G20 finance chiefs back central bank independence in first communique since October

Source: Reuters

July 18, 2025 6:00 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago


DURBAN, July 18 (Reuters) - Finance chiefs from the Group of 20 countries stressed the importance of central bank independence while pledging to boost cooperation in a joint statement issued on Friday after a two-day meeting in South Africa.

In their first communique since last October, a month before U.S. President Donald Trump's election victory paved the way for his subsequent tariff war, the ministers and central bankers highlighted the uncertainty in the global economy caused by conflict, trade tensions and frequent extreme weather events.

The issue of central bank independence had hung heavily over the meeting in South Africa's coastal city of Durban following Trump's repeated berating of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates, attacks that have roiled global financial markets.

"The significance of this motherhood and apple pie communique is that it exists at all, though its sprawling nature once again underscores the need for thorough G20 streamlining," said Mark Sobel, a former senior Treasury official who now serves as U.S. chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. "Its strong and welcome defence of central bank independence stood out, given President Trump's misguided attacks on Chair Powell," he said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/g20-finance-chiefs-back-central-bank-independence-first-communique-since-october-2025-07-18/