Lesetja Kganyago blasts populist economics
The Reserve Bank governor says SA has no space for 'macroeconomic adventurism'
SA Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago says it is better to have unpopular central bankers than allow runaway inflation in order to please populists. Speaking at the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals’ (Absip) conference just few hours before a panel was due to debate the nationalisation of the central bank, Kganyago told black professionals that SA had no space for “macroeconomic adventurism”. “This notion that to get growth going we must allow inflation to go up is not just reckless, it demonstrates a lack of understanding of how a modern economy works,” he said, responding to calls for an expansionary economic policy to boost investment. Kganyago’s sentiments come at a time when the central bank is fighting to keep its independence after the ANC resolved during its 54th national conference in December 2017 that the bank should be nationalised. As recently as last month the party’s communicator, Phelisa Nkomo, issued a bizarre statement asking the Bank...
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