LUKANYO MNYANDA: Lesetja Kganyago is steadfast but he is also stubborn
SA’s interest rates are too high for an economy that is barely growing and an unemployment rate that could prove perilous
With all the excitement about, including the disaster at Eskom and the president experiencing first hand and professing shock about how ordinary citizens live, the meeting of the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee probably won’t be at the top of many people’s “to watch” list. But it should, as it comes at a rather interesting time for governor Lesetja Kganyago. Like everyone who has an interest in this sort of thing, he will have kept a close eye on what the Federal Reserve had to say last week, and the swift response in bond markets. By the end of the week US Treasury 10-year notes yielded less than securities that mature in three months, which is usually an accurate sign of economic trouble ahead, and something that hasn’t been seen since 2007, when the subprime mortgage meltdown was on its way to sparking a global crisis not seen since the Great Depression. Across the Atlantic, bond yields turned negative, meaning that investors are willing to pay a small fee to the German ...
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