by the mpc. these engagement by the governor, deputy governors and senior officials are aimed at deepening the understanding of the work of the sarb with stakeholders, explaining what the sarb does, what decisions it makes, and, where relevant, how such decisions were arrived at. in keeping with our commitment to transparency, any formal interaction or announcement by the mpc as a committee will be pre - announced. conclusion the economic performance of south africa has been weak recently. monetary policy can mitigate cyclical downturns, provided that inflationary pressures are contained, but monetary policy is not effective in combating structural growth problems. such problems can only be addressed by implementing structural reforms. the south african reserve bank remains focused on containing medium - term inflation. the best contribution that central banking can make to growth outcomes is to play a facilitative role aimed at implementing policies that provide a stable macroeconomic and financial markets environment. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

related sector, is somewhat rising amid a fall in stock prices in the u. s. and worldwide as well as depreciation of the u. s. dollar. in these circumstances, it should be heeded that further destabilization in the foreign exchange and financial markets at home and abroad would easily exert a negative influence on the economy. on the price front, import prices are turning down due to the u. s. dollar ’ s depreciation against the yen since this spring. domestic wholesale prices are leveling off since a decline in machinery prices and a reduction in electricity charges are offset by the effects of the increase in import prices until recently and the completion of inventory adjustment. meanwhile, consumer prices stay on a gradual downtrend and corporate services prices continue to decline. as for the conditions surrounding price developments, the balance between supply and demand is expected to still keep exerting downward pressure on prices for a while amid persistently weak domestic demand, although the completion of inventory adjustment will support prices to some degree. moreover, factors such as the ongoing technological innovations in machinery, deregulation, and the streamlining of distribution channels will continue to restrain prices. with import prices beginning to turn down, the currently unchanged domestic wholesale prices is likely to edge down again as they are sensitive to import prices. consumer prices are expected to stay on a declining trend for the time being at the current gradual pace. this is because while the slower growth in imports of consumer goods is expected to alleviate the downward pressure on prices to some extent, the faster pace of decline in wages may possibly reinforce the ongoing decline in prices, especially for services prices. as for the financial market, in the short - term money markets, the outstanding balance of the current accounts at the bank of japan is recently moving around 15 trillion yen as the bank continues to provide ample liquidity to the money market. in these circumstances, the overnight call rate continues to move around zero percent. moreover, longer - term interest rates remain steady. yields on long - term government bonds inched down in response to a fall in stock prices and are mainly moving in the range of 1. 2 - 1. 3 percent recently. as for yield spreads between private bonds ( bank bonds and corporate bonds ) and government bonds, the downtrend from the start of this fiscal year has come to a halt since mid - june. stock prices fell through june in line with a decline in u. s. stock prices, but have edged up thereafter