In an acceptance speech at the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards in Johannesburg, South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago reiterated that transparency and accountability make central bank independence credible and sustainable. A credible press helps communicate monetary policy and holds the bank accountable for fulfilling its mandate.
The bank relies on public confidence to fulfil that mandate, against a backdrop of misinformation, political polarisation and damage to South African public institutions from state capture. Kganyago recalled Tito Mboweni’s decision to open the start of the inaugural Monetary Policy Committee meeting to the media as an earlier example of transparency in practice. The aim was to give citizens greater insight into how monetary policy decisions affecting their lives are reached.