LETTER: Quantitative easing cannot be used as policy tool to drive development in SA
It is naïve to confuse a structural transformation problem with a stabilisation problem
SA’s recent debates over macroeconomic policy miss the point. With the recent 3.2% quarter on quarter contraction of GDP, the economy's poor growth is indeed worrying and underscores a need to rethink economic policy in the country.
But identification of this fact only gets us so far. The proposed solutions regarding quantitative easing to drive development, widely attributed by the media to ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule this week, have dubious underpinnings. The same could be said for Duma Gqubule’s recent piece in Business Day (“Governor must stay in his lane and accept debate about the Bank”), where he seemed to argue in favour of the need for expansionary fiscal and monetary policies à la modern money theory in SA...
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