By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE: António Guterres, the United Nations(UN) Secretary General has urged G20 world leaders to use their leverage to lead the much-needed action on economic issues, climate and peace, the Mail & Guardian reported on Saturday.

“My message to the leaders is simple;now is the time for leadership and vision. We are living through tumultuous times. Conflicts, climate chaos, economic uncertainty, mounting debt, inequality, and the collapse in global aid are inflicting massive suffering around the world, and rising military expenditure is drawing resources away from development,” the UN Secretary General said during a media briefing in Johannesburg ahead of the two-day G20 world leaders’ Summit at the Nasrec Expo Centre this weekend.

Guterres said, as the world’s largest economies, the G20 can exert enormous influence to ease this suffering, ensure that economic growth is widely shared, and set the world on a better, more peaceful course for the future. He said developing countries-particularly in Africa-are suffering from a perfect storm of shrinking fiscal space, crushing debt burdens, and a global financial architecture that is failing to support or even adequately represent them.

“Africa has been a double victim of colonialism; first through centuries of exploitation and plunder, and then again when international institutions were created while most African countries are still under colonial rule and their voices are absent from the table, he added.