Most economists expect the Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) to opt for yet another large interest rate cut when it next meets this month.But the real debate is not about conventional monetary policy tools such as interest rates. It is about more unconventional tools, such as buying bonds - and to what extent the Bank should be using its balance sheet to support the economy or help the government finance the public debt.It's a hot global debate, with central banks in the UK and US injecting vast quantities of cash into their markets - using what some dub the "magic money machine" - to try to lift their economies in a context in which interest rates are near zero and conventional monetary policy is of little use.It's a debate that's been going on in SA too, and it made fresh headlines last weekend when deputy finance minister David Masondo raised the question of whether the Reserve Bank should not act as "lender of last resort" for the government in the current cri...
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