The economies of southern Africa all face significant development challenges, not helped by the fact that many of these countries are ill-prepared for the demands of the rapidly advancing digital era. Given its heterogeneous membership and therefore sensitivity towards the awkward dynamic between traditional and new technologies, the G20 is well placed to assist southern Africa in leveraging the power of the digital economy and making the transition into the future.

Trade has been identified as an important factor contributing to poverty reduction in many countries. This study uses a panel Vector Autoregressive framework, both in the long run and the short run to analyse the relationship between trade openness and poverty reduction for the case of Africa. The long run results show that trade is a strong conributor to poverty alleviation as it allows people to exploit their productive potential, assists economic growth, curtails policy interventions and helps to insulate against shocks.