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Celebrating the South African Reserve Bank’s 100-year history
The South African Reserve Bank (https://www.resbank.co.za/en/home) (SARB) is the oldest central bank in Africa. Founded in 1921, at a time when banknotes were still issued by commercial lenders and had to be backed by holdings of physical gold, it has been at the forefront of SA’s financial evolution from a colonial mining outpost of the British Empire to a thriving democracy in Africa’s most advanced economy.
SARB officially opened its doors for business on June 30 1921 and issued its first banknotes to the public on April 19 1922. Initially, it was envisaged that the SARB would have a 25-year mandate to issue banknotes but this was extended indefinitely. The SARB helped transition SA away from the gold standard in 1932 by linking the value of the local currency to pound sterling as the foundation of its new monetary policy framework. It oversaw the introduction of the rand on February 14 1961, three months before SA left the Commonwealth to become a republic...
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