South Africa’s ruling party says it still wants the country’s Central Bank to be nationalized, party officials said on Tuesday.
The African National Congress (ANC) said that the nationalization of the bank would not however affect the institution’s mandate.
“Our position on the nationalisation of the reserve bank has not changed. If you talk about sovereignty of that bank, belonging to the people, is one and the same thing,” ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule told reporters.
Unlike most central banks around the world, the South African Reserve Bank has been privately owned since it was established in 1921. Its shareholders do not however have control of the country’s monetary policy, financial stability policy or banking regulation.
The ANC’s resolution to nationalize the bank was first arrived at in December 2017.
The party is now keen to have this plan put into effect, with added calls for the bank’s mandate to be extended beyond inflation-targeting to include boosting economic growth and unemployment.
“We have said we are going to implement our decisions…All the decisions which must be implemented, must be implemented in a responsible way,” Magashule said.
Governor Lesetja Kganyago however said last week that a debate over ownership of the central bank was increasing investor uncertainty and fuelling the risk premium attached to the country’s debt.
