importance here will be the absolute fully dedicated focus on education and skills development in south africa for a higher growth path. although employment creation is still at low levels, it is nonetheless encouraging to see that there has been a pick up in the numbers of people employed. according to the latest official data available in march 2004, total employment in south africa was 11 984 million, which was a marked improvement from the total of 11 652 million in september 2003. the number of unemployed people remains high in south africa despite this improvement. according to stats sa, the total unemployed was 4 611 million in march 2004 as compared to the 4 627 million in september 2003. so a lot of work still lies ahead as far as employment creation is concerned. but it is encouraging that the number of people unemployed is coming down. as we have indicated in the past, south africa introduced inflation targeting in the year 2000. the inflation target was specified as the consumer price index less mortgage cost, the co - called cpix. the numeral target was for cpix to remain on average between 6 and 3 percent. now, there has been a little change to specify that the target must be met on a twelve - month continuous basis. we are happy here at the central bank to report to you this evening that since september 2003, we have been inside the target range. this achievement has also begun to influence inflation expectations in a positive way. the expectations of business, trade unions and households are now well within the target levels. this is important for inflation outcomes going forward. in an inflation targeting monetary policy framework, it is important that we are committed to the inflation target and not target any other intermediate variable. so whilst variables such as the exchange rate, monetary aggregates, unit labour cost and oil prices play an important part in the inflation process, these should not become intermediate targets but must however be watched carefully and systematically by the central bank. the exchange rate of the rand is determined by the supply and demand developments in the foreign exchange market. the central bank does not target any level of the exchange rate but takes the rate as given by the forex market. due to the importance which attaches to the exchange rate in the inflation process, a competitively priced exchange rate is the preferred outcome for the central bank. we neither prefer a weak rand nor an overvalued exchange rate. we prefer a competitively priced exchange rate. from time to time, exchange rates have a tendency to over - or undersho

‘ rules of the game ’ must not create barriers to growth for fintechs. we have identified a few scenarios where this may be the case. authorities have to ensure that the approach to, and governance of such processes, is transparent and robust. access to resources two significant resource challenges facing fintechs are access to capital and access to skills sets. unlike incumbents who generally have reasonable access to finance, fintech firms and specifically fintech smmes may experience significant additional challenges accessing finance. while consumer credit is likely well - served in south africa, smmes page 5 of 9 continue to struggle to access critical funding to sustain themselves and even grow. this is despite the significant contribution that these businesses make to gross domestic product ( gdp ) and employment. the inability of smmes to raise funds is caused by a number of demand - and supplyside factors, such as the lack of financial records and the inability of lenders to tailor their loan terms to match the business needs. according to a 2019 report by one of the large banks in south africa, few fintechs manage to secure start - up capital, with the general sentiment indicating that funding seems to be readily, but not openly, available. more broadly speaking, smmes also operate in a mostly informal, invisible and cash - based economy. addressing this challenge is related to the broader need to digitise these businesses and ensure that they are included in the digital economy. turning our attention to the importance of access to skills : although much emphasis is placed on the technologies in the fintech domain, it is the people, the skills and the talent that create the innovation and propel the change. this is evidenced across the fintech value chain : from the data scientists who unearth customer behaviour patterns, needs and ‘ pain points ’, through the software developers and engineers who develop the solutions, to the business heads who craft growth strategies based on an emerging technology. however, similarly to most countries, particularly developing countries, south africa has a shortage of technical skills. the 2019 south african information, technology and communication ( ict ) 7 skills survey found that the fourth industrial revolution ( 4ir ) has not had a significant impact on the south african ict skills landscape yet. according to the report, the skills associated with the current set of emerging technologies – such as ai, the internet of things, blockchain, automation, data science and programming – were the scarcest. 8 this leads to a race for talented and skilled individuals such as data