remarks by lesetja kganyago, governor of the south african reserve bank, at the jse / nyse market close event, new york, 10 october 2022 good afternoon distinguished guests, investors, members of the media, south african delegates, and new york stock exchange representatives. it is a privilege to address you here today, following the signing of a new memorandum of understanding ( mou ) between the johannesburg stock exchange ( jse ) and the new york stock exchange ( nyse ). this new mou will foster closer ties between the two markets, and is aimed at increasing economic partnerships and trade opportunities. it is encouraging that the jse and nyse will continue to explore new areas of cooperation and collaboration in strengthening their value propositions for their respective markets. south africa shares significant economic interests with the united states ( us ). south africa is the us ’ s largest african trading partner and has the most diversified and industrialised economy on the continent. despite the rapid growth in asian economies, the us remains one of south africa ’ s top five main trading partners. 1 in 2021, us exports to south africa totalled us $ 5. 5 billion − a 25. 8 % increase from 2020, while us imports from south africa totalled us $ 15. 7 billion − a 38. 5 % increase. there are approximately 600 us businesses operating in south africa and many use south details are available at http : / / www. dirco. gov. za / foreign / bilateral / usa. html africa as their regional headquarters, 2 and a springboard for greater opportunity on the african continent. these structural features of our economic relationship are stable and will certainly grow in the coming years. nevertheless, the global economic environment is challenging and is likely to remain as such for the next year or so, as we all find our way out of the economic repercussions of the covid - 19 pandemic. critical to shaping our path will be considered policies that seek to reduce volatility and uncertainty, and which aid the long - term investment that underpins sustainable economic growth. let me focus briefly on the global economy and south africa ’ s response. this is an unusually challenging time for the global macroeconomy. high inflation has now taken centre stage in the global debate on monetary policy, as prices continue to climb at rates last seen decades ago. 3 we have seen major central banks raising interest rates at the fastest pace in a generation. the current inflation surge has

to 6, 5 per cent of us gdp, cannot keep growing indefinitely. one can only hope that the inevitable adjustments in global imbalances will occur in a controlled and synchronised manner and that it will not lead to increased protectionism. such an adjustment would require the participation of all regions and countries. the imf was mandated at the recent april meetings to focus on the issue of resolving these global imbalances ( the so - called multilateral survey during the article iv country consultations ). as a necessary step to start addressing global imbalances, the most keenly awaited event in the currency markets finally came to pass in july 2005 - the revaluation of the chinese renminbi ( rmb ) when the people's bank of china ( pboc ) finally abandoned its decade long peg of the rmb, placing it under a managed float against an un - specified basket of currencies. subsequently, more steps were taken by the pboc to liberalise the foreign exchange market, such as : announcing the currencies in the basket, widening the daily band of the renminbi against non - dollar currencies, abandoning quotas of foreign currency for domestic companies to invest abroad and allowing more instruments to be used in the foreign exchange market. 3. developments in south africa let me then briefly turn to developments in our own economy. against the background of a growing global economy, the south african economy has continued to grow at a healthy pace since 2004, with the gdp growth rate of 4, 9 per cent in 2005 exceeding the 4, 5 per cent registered the year before. continued sound fiscal and monetary policies have resulted in good budgetary and inflation outcomes. cpix inflation has been within the target range of between 3 and 6 per cent for 31 months. the outlook for inflation continues to be generally favourable, with cpix inflation expected to remain inside the target range until the end of the forecast period in 2008, although risks and challenges remain. vigilance is, therefore, required as is always the case in these matters. financial markets have also performed well. yields on domestic government bonds declined to record lows in february 2006, and have only moderately started to increase since then. the all - share index of the jse reached record highs in april 2006, and has already gained around 18 per cent in the year to the end of april, before retracing somewhat in may, following trends in the global markets and lower commodity prices.