lesetja kganyago : protecting the buying power of south africa's currency address by mr lesetja kganyago, governor of the south african reserve bank, at the launch of commemorative coins to mark the 100th anniversary of oliver tambo's birth, pretoria, 4 october 2017. * * * oliver reginald tambo ’ s life was integrity, trust and accountability personified. the power and emotion behind his speeches lay in the clarity of his thoughts, not in the delivery and the fiery of his rhetoric. that is partly why he was able to mobilise the world against apartheid. that is partly why he succeeded in keeping together people of diverse backgrounds united under the anc umbrella. his integrity shone through, defining all his interactions with everyone, young and old, senior and rank and file members. the dictionary describes integrity as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. it lists honourableness, decency, fairness, sincerity, truthfulness and trustworthiness as some of the synonyms of integrity. tambo ’ s conduct was one of integrity and accountability. integrity, trust and accountability also matter a great deal for the south african reserve bank ( sarb ) and, indeed, other central banks elsewhere in the world. the sarb exists to serve the economic wellbeing of south africans by protecting the buying power of the domestic currency – the banknotes and coin. this primary mandate of the sarb, as well as its independence in carrying out this mandate, are entrenched in sections 224 and 225 of the constitution of the republic of south africa. our constitution which has been tested many times in recent years bears testimony to the calibre and the foresight of the leadership of the founders of this nation. to borrow the words of justice albie sachs, a paternity test on our constitution will find tambo ’ s dna. 1 the sarb does not bow to any pressure, whether it be political or from the private sector. but the sarb does account to the people of south africa through parliament. the other main function of the sarb is to ensure there is a sufficient supply of high quality banknotes and coin. this is one function of the sarb that puts it in the pockets, wallets and the hearts of all south africans. the sarb banknotes may not be in the pockets or wallets of all south africans all of the time, but they can be if all of us work harder to make our economy grow

philip lowe : what is normal? address by mr philip lowe, deputy governor of the reserve bank of australia, to the australian business economists annual dinner, sydney, 5 december 2012. * * * i would like to thank jonathan kearns for valuable assistance in the preparation of this talk. thank you for the invitation to speak at tonight ’ s dinner. this is the second time that i have participated in the abe ’ s annual forecasting conference and it is a pleasure to be here once again. the title of my remarks this evening is in the form of a question. and that question is, “ what is normal? ” the oxford dictionary defines the word “ normal ” as “ conforming to a standard ; usual, typical or expected ”. 1 the question of “ what is normal ” therefore seems an appropriate one for an annual forecasting conference. for many of us, our days are spent looking at economic and financial developments and asking whether they are “ usual, typical or expected ”. and if we conclude they are not, we ask ourselves will things return to normal, and if so when, or has normal changed? like many of you, i often get asked if what we are seeing is “ normal ”, “ the new normal ”, “ the old normal ” or is it something different? in many areas of life our perceptions of what is normal are crucial to how we feel about what is going on around us. there are, for example, a range of human behaviours that were once considered normal but would cause many of us considerable angst if we saw them today. what is considered normal, and entirely unremarkable in one context, can be viewed very differently in another. so context and experience are important. with that in mind, my remarks tonight are split into two parts. first, i would like to look back over australia ’ s recent economic performance and what it means for people ’ s perceptions of what is normal. and then second, i would like to talk about some issues related to monetary policy and what is considered normal. australia ’ s recent economic performance on a number of fronts, the past 20 years have been very good ones for the australian economy. during the early part of this period, the economy was recovering from the sharp downturn of the early 1990s recession. we then had the boom in housing prices and credit. that was followed by the sharp rise in the terms of trade, which was only temporarily interrupted by the financial crisis in the north atlantic.