Reserve Bank to seek urgent review of public protector's bid to change its mandate
The Bank’s legal team says the remedial action prescribed by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane falls outside her powers
The Reserve Bank is set to challenge the public protector’s recommendation on changing its mandate. The Bank said in a statement on Tuesday that the ordered remedial action directing Parliament to change the Constitution to amend the Reserve Bank’s powers, had had an immediate and negative impact on the markets and the exchange rate of the rand. Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane ordered the change as part of the remedial actions in the CIEX report investigation, released at a briefing in Pretoria on Monday. It would effectively put an end to inflation targeting, a core tenet of the Bank’s monetary policy. Mkhwebane’s proposed change is that the Bank’s primary objective should be to "promote balanced and sustainable economic growth in the republic while ensuring the socioeconomic wellbeing of the citizens is protected". "The amendment would, if effected, strip the Reserve Bank of its key competency to protect the value of the currency and the well understood role that central banks...
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