since the sarb act does not currently provide for this. this legislation would also have page - 10 - of 11 to provide for measures such as the determination of the value of the shares, as determined by the legislature. on private shareholding, it should also be noted that the sarb embarked on a process of regularising its shareholder structure, which culminated in a judgement obtained from the gauteng division of the high court in november 2016. in terms of said court order, a total of 149 200 sarb shares held by 15 shareholders were disposed of, which resulted in 57 new shareholders spread across the general public. the interest in sarb shares is currently exceptionally high, with standing buy offers from 28 buyers wishing to purchase 90 109 shares. conclusion the economy has been in recession but is expected to recover in the latter part of this year. understandably, in times like these questions arise about the role of central banks and their contribution to economic growth. our constitution is very clear : the core mandate of the sarb is to protect the value of the currency in the interest of balanced and sustainable growth in the south african economy. however, monetary policy cannot determine the longer - run growth potential of the economy. our constitution is clear on this, too : in carrying out its mandate, the sarb must not bow to any pressure, be it political or from the private sector. despite the challenging environment in which we operate, the sarb as an institution remains strong ; it is staffed by people who are committed to the promotion of the economic well - being of all south africans. thank you. page - 11 - of 11

in the advanced economies have begun a slow retreat from their highly accommodative stances. the us fed3 has led the way with three fed funds rate increases of 25 basis points each in the past year. the fed has also communicated its intention to begin slowly shrinking its balance sheet – which was expanded significantly during the global financial crisis – this year. the ecb4 and the bank of england have also recently signalled a possible end to their extremely accommodative monetary policy stances later this year, but rates are expected to remain low in japan. sixth, capital flows to emerging markets have remained relatively robust but sensitive to changes in advanced economy policy signals. while changing expectations regarding ecb and us monetary policy in particular have impacted on a number of emerging market currencies and bond yields, the reaction has been relatively muted. those economies that were most sensitive to the 2013 ‘ taper tantrum ’ episode have 3 us federal reserve 4 european central bank page - 2 - of 11 much - improved macroeconomic balances, and their currencies are less vulnerable to possible spillover effects from us monetary tightening. finally, international oil prices have also been fairly volatile. attempts by opec 5 and other producers to underpin falling prices through output restrictions were effective in the short run, with oil prices rising to around us $ 58 per barrel in december 2016 from earlier levels of around us $ 45 - 50, after they had fallen to below us $ 30 per barrel in early 2016. since april we have seen this strategy being undermined by increased output from shale gas producers in the us in particular, and by non - compliance by parties to the agreement. turning closer to home : while global growth prospects have generally improved, south africa is unfortunately an outlier. this past year has seen the worst domestic growth performance since the recession during the global financial crisis. the economy grew at a paltry 0. 3 % in 2016, and recently recorded two consecutive quarters of negative growth. the sarb6 had expected the fourth quarter of 2016 to be the low point in the cycle, but growth in the first quarter of this year surprised significantly on the downside at - 0. 7 %. this contraction was broad - based, with only the primary sector recording positive growth. despite this, we believe that the worst is behind us – and that growth in the second quarter of this year will be positive. however, the sarb ’ s growth forecast was revised down significantly, as communicated at