Melisa Deciancio is a research assistant at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO).

The Role of the G8 in the G20 Era

Did Media Coverage Enhance or Threaten the Viability of the G20 Summits?

In Argentina, the general perception of the media seems to be that the results in Seoul were unsatisfactory and the media reflected their disappointment with the summit’s outcome, despite the enthusiasm of the minister of foreign relations. The expectations generated from the last meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors on international institutional reform — specifically International Monetary Fund (IMF) reform — have been overshadowed by the “currency war” issue and the lack of agreement between China and the US on how to manage their economies. IMF reform has been a major issue for Argentina’s government at the last summits.  Argentina is one of the countries which will lose shares as a result of the IMF reform. Moreover, Cristina Fernandez’ administration is reluctant to allow the revision under Article IV of the IMF’s agreement. In this sense, reform of international financial institutions has been one of the main issues for Argentina’s media.

The summit’s final declaration was viewed as being vague, without clear guidelines for measuring imbalances between developed, undeveloped and emerging economies. However, besides the criticism of the leader’s declaration, newspaper coverage has not reflected a lack of viability of the G20. In Argentina, the summits are always perceived as fruitful, due to the fact that the country has the possibility of having developing countries’ voices heard in an international forum and include issues on the agenda that otherwise would be excluded. 

How was the Rebalancing Issue Dealt With?

The achievement of “collective consistency” has not been deeply addressed by the media. Public opinion in Argentina has not perceived the relevance of the changes promoted by the G20 and their impact on the country. Media coverage has been focused on the president´s participation at the G20 forum and other meetings, with little attention paid to explaining the relevance of the economic and governance processes under discussion at the forum. 

However, since its creation, the mutual assessment process (MAP) has acquired particular relevance for Argentina. Due to its reluctance to allow IMF surveillance under Article IV, the government has strongly supported the idea that IMF reform be replaced by the G20 with the MAP. As reported in the newspaper El Cronista Comercial, at the Seoul summit, Cristina Fernandez reinforced this commitment by becoming the first president to present a country’s regular financial report to the MAP, showing her willingness to subscribe to the G20 and the MAP processes and not the IMF. With this move, the government is also expecting to negotiate an agreement with the Paris Club with the supervision of the MAP instead of the IMF.

The Role of President Cristina Fernandez

It is clear that Argentina is not among the most relevant players in the group; however, Cristina Fernandez’ contribution to the G20 summits has always been substantive. At the Seoul summit, Fernandez stressed the importance of implementing specific policies aimed at "monitoring the existence of tax havens, plus controlling market volatility and capital flows," among other issues. This is an issue that President Fernandez has held dear in past summits in London and Pittsburgh, and she reinforced once again in Seoul. She has also called the members of the group to work together, cooperate and avoid entering into conflict in relation to the ongoing “currency war” between China and the US. President Fernandez also asked developed countries to increase their efforts to avoid the “currency war,” and not expect developing countries to carry the burden of adjustment, revalue their currencies and slow their growth.

Reflections of the Role of South Korea

The fact that the G20 summit was held in South Korea was not something the media specially covered.