The South African Reserve Bank’s policies have been detrimental to the country’s development, and the newly appointed governor, Lesetja Kganyago, has to take drastic decisions. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said this in a statement.
Spokesperson, Patrick Craven, said: “He must radically change the disastrous policies of his predecessors which, together with those of the treasury, have been one of the main reasons for our painfully slow rate of economic growth, the loss of thousands of jobs and the failure to implement government and ANC policies to radically restructure our economy.”
He called on Kganyago to change the policy of seeing inflation as a threat and using it to justify high interest rates. “Rising inflation is a potential danger, but was less dangerous than unemployment, poverty and inequality.”
Craven said Kganyago had to insist that the South African Reserve Bank be nationalised and should not be guided by ratings agencies, the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. “The new governor’s motto should be ‘no more business as usual.”