South Africa
Swift paper warns not to transplant Kenya’s inclusion strategy
Harvard Kennedy School lecturer explores the factors behind M-Pesa’s success in Kenya, and warns against simply copying the country’s approach to inclusion elsewhere
Namibian central bank wary of household debt increase
Namibia has higher household debt levels than regional peers, according to some measures, the central bank’s latest financial stability report notes
Sarb reserve management policy sheds light on tranches
South African Reserve Bank publishes investment policy governing allocation of FX and gold; splits reserves into range of tranches and sub-tranches
Sarb hikes rate despite split decision on MPC
Monetary policy committee decides to raise key rate by 25bp after an initial 3:3 split; concerns over inflation remain for some members
South Africa continues to make progress in market conduct regulation, deputy governor says
Sarb in communication with regulators about revised code of conduct; next stage to be completed in ‘coming months’
Sarb seeks release of banknotes from detained plane
The South African Reserve Bank confirms an aircraft carrying a consignment of banknotes has been detained in Zimbabwe, after the discovery of a dead body
GDP lag overcome with nowcasting, Sarb paper says
Nowcasting will assist policy-makers understand path of real economic activity, authors say, finding model outperforms others significantly
Sarb deputy governor sees growing inflation risks ahead of MPC meeting
South African Reserve Bank policy-makers must assess ‘very carefully’ whether its stance remains appropriate, Mminele says; MPC meets January 21
Room for monetary policy stimulus has ‘narrowed’ in many EMs, World Bank report warns
Little room left to use monetary or fiscal stimulus in event of growth shock in some countries, report says, pointing to role for structural reform
Energy and food price rises have ‘strong’ second-round effects in South Africa, paper says
A new model of South African food and energy price rises allows the quantification of their second-round impact on wider inflation measures, a working paper argues
South Africa evades recession with positive growth in third quarter
Agriculture sector remains a concern despite economic growth in third quarter, most recent Sarb quarterly review notes
Sarb deputy sees opportunity for reserve managers in Fed hike
Daniel Mminele encourages reserve managers to focus on the ‘investment horizon’ to take advantage of higher yields in the wake of Fed action
South African review charts motivations behind resumption of tightening cycle
One of three chief considerations was the path of exchange rate and the risks it posed to inflation, which increased as the year went on
Sarb raises rate 25bp now to avoid bigger move later
Increasing risk of inflation spurs the South African Reserve Bank to raise its key rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%; two out of six MPC members preferred not to move
Research assesses South Africa’s vulnerability to Fed hike
Countries with large ratios of external financing needs to foreign exchange could be more vulnerable to Fed rate hikes, working paper finds
Sarb ready to deploy countercyclical buffer from January
South African Reserve Bank says countercyclical capital buffer is ready but not yet needed, in latest financial stability report
Kganyago defends bank’s inflation targeting regime
South African Reserve Bank governor insists striving to meet an inflation target is not the same as ignoring growth, in speech in Cape Town
Sarb publishes first draft of forex code of conduct
New code of conduct proposed for South African foreign exchange over-the-counter market, though official review finds no evidence of malpractice
South Africa aims to launch electronic trading platform this year
A deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank announces electronic trading platform could be launched in the coming months
South African deputy looks to fill gaps in resolution setup
Francois Groepe highlights main elements of proposals for a new resolution framework in South Africa; particular emphasis on creating a deposit guarantee scheme
South African central bank open to currency intervention
Chinese devaluation stokes fears of further currency falls in economy vulnerable to exchange rate shifts
East African countries top Brookings table on inclusion
Study by think tank in Washington, DC, evaluates inclusion efforts in 21 diverse countries; Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda achieve high scores across categories
Sarb research updates forecasting model
Refinements to central bank’s semi-structural general equilibrium model aim to better reflect the South African economy over the inflation-targeting period
Sarb governor airs concerns over inflation expectations
Lesetja Kganyago says the five-year inflation expectations of analysts, business people and trade unionists are ‘uncomfortably close’ to top end of inflation target