t t mboweni : south africa ’ s economic policy challenges address by mr t t mboweni, governor of the south african reserve bank, at the xvi meeting of the central bank governors ’ club 1, irkutsk, russia, 2 september 2006. * * * governors, honoured guests ladies and gentlemen 1. introduction i am grateful to the central bank of the russian federation for inviting me to address the governors ’ club today. i have been informed that one of the main objectives of the governors ’ club is to promote co - operation in the sphere of central banking among member countries. in the light of the rapid developments in the global financial system, there is little doubt about the benefits of associations such as the governors ’ club. i trust that the experience of south africa and the southern african region that i am going to highlight today will be informative to the objectives and activities of the governors ’ club. 2. south africa ’ s economic growth performance similar to the many countries participating at this meeting, the south african economy can be described as an economy in transition. it is the largest economy in africa with gross domestic product in 2005 measuring us $ 239, 4 billion ( r1523 billion ), compared to us $ 135, 8 billion ( r482, 1 billion ) in 1994. gdp per capita increased from approximately us3, 500 in 1994 to approximately us $ 5000 in 2005, in a country with a population of approximately 47 million people and an annual population growth rate of marginally below 1 per cent. because of the legacy of the apartheid, there is still a highly skewed distribution of income and wealth in the country. according to recent estimates, the gini coefficient is approximately 0. 65. one of the primary objectives of the current government is to rectify these inequalities. this is a particular challenge given the high levels of unemployment in the country. the most recent unemployment rate for 2005 was approximately 27 per cent, slightly higher than a year earlier. although south africa is a major commodity producer, and commodities or commodity - based products make up a significant proportion of our exports, the contribution of mining to gdp is relatively small at 6 per cent. the largest sector in the economy is the finance, real estate and business services sector which accounts for almost 20 per cent of gdp, followed by the manufacturing sector which accounts for just over 16 per cent. the agricultural sector is one of the smallest sector, contributing about 2, 4 per cent of gdp. only

tt mboweni : central banking, competition and concurrent jurisdiction address by mr tt mboweni, governor of the south african reserve bank, at the annual competition conference, johannesburg, 29 march 2001. * 1. * * introduction good evening ladies and gentlemen. i thank you for inviting me here this evening to address this conference at a time when competition policy and enforcement are rapidly increasing in prominence throughout the world. this is indeed a stimulating time for you as you grapple with the challenges that confront you. it is perhaps unusual for a central banker to be addressing an anti - trust conference such as this one. at first glance, the worlds occupied by the reserve bank and the competition authority are at opposite ends of the economic policy spectrum. whereas the central bank is characteristically identified as the guardian of macro - economic stability, the competition authority is concerned with regulating micro - behaviour. this includes investigating and adjudicating business practices and ensuring that the structure of the economy promotes competition and facilitates access. the importance of the microeconomic sphere cannot be under - estimated. i have mentioned in the past that microeconomic reforms are important in driving the south african economy forward. president thabo mbeki noted in his address at the opening of parliament earlier this year, that we have reached the necessary level of macroeconomic balance and stability. he observed that the time was right to focus on the critical microeconomic issues, more particularly the public sector. 2. complementary functions a deeper look at the functions and broad objectives of the reserve bank and the competition authorities reveals that we share more than is apparent at first glance. we use significantly distinct instruments, but we share a common objective to be attained through our regulatory functions and regulatory tasks – that of promoting growth and enhanced economic opportunity. since the central bank cannot realise its key objective of securing financial stability in the absence of soundly functioning financial markets, it has a critically important regulatory function. the bank has to ensure that the institutions that play a central role in the financial markets understand and abide by the rules that are necessary for the effective functioning of the market. a case in point was three years ago, when the international economy was hit by the asian crisis. many policymakers and analysts insisted that the economic fundamentals of some of the worst - hit asian countries were sound and bolstered by strong monetary and fiscal policies. interestingly, some of these countries had experienced high growth and strong foreign capital inflows up to the crisis. however, upon deeper scrutiny, it