risks. however, the crisis also exposed the weaknesses in central bank liquidity management and the need for more flexible frameworks. 6. insulating south africa given this background, what is it then that south africa can do to insulate itself against these global risks? well - coordinated and sound policies are required going forward. south africa ’ s macroeconomic policies have served us well and the need for fiscal consolidation, whilst important to ensure continued fiscal sustainability, is less pressing if one compares the country to other developed markets. it has already been noted that while countercyclical policy did prevent a more severe recession, our public debt ratio remains comparatively low while there is a clear medium - term plan to reduce the budget deficit. policymakers need to monitor at all times global economic and financial sector developments, understand linkages between global and domestic developments, and ensure that policies and regulations are calibrated to allow appropriate responses in a flexible and quick manner. one of the reasons for south african banks coming out of this crisis in good shape is due to the prudent regulatory and supervisory framework. the g - 20, of which south africa is a member, continues to do much work on financial regulation, through the financial stability board ( fsb ) and the basel committee on banking supervision ( bcbs ). south africa is represented on both the bcbs and the fsb as well as various working groups. consequently, the developments and discussions in international fora are closely monitored to ensure the ongoing alignment of the south african framework with international developments where applicable and appropriate. south africa is also an active participant in the mutual assessment process ( map ), a working group formed by the g - 20 as part of its work to deal with the impact of the financial bank of england, 2009, the role of macro - prudential policy. crisis. the map working group was formed to provide the g - 20 with a framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth. global co - ordination and global responses are required given the nature of the challenges we are facing, but that does not necessarily always imply uniform measures and synchronised timing. country - specific circumstances must continue to be taken into account. 7. conclusion although the worst of the sub - prime crisis is behind us, it has left behind a legacy of indebted nations, which will complicate the future conduct of both fiscal and monetary policy. these challenges, unless adequately addressed, could derail the nascent global economic recovery. the continued recovery

executive management department an address by lesetja kganyago, governor of the south african reserve bank, at the launch of the mpc schools challenge, pretoria 21 july 2017 good morning ladies and gentlemen decisions whether to cut, increase, or keep interest rates unchanged are of enormous importance to the economy general, and they affect most people, either directly or indirectly. this often raises the question : how do central banks make these decisions, and specifically, what factors do they take into account in making these decisions. one of the channels that many central banks use to explain how they make these decisions and what factors they take into account is to run a competition for high school learners. typically, these competitions involve a group of learners forming themselves into a monetary policy committee and making a case either to cut, increase, or keep interest rates unchanged. the south african reserve bank began a pilot in 2012 in partnership with the gauteng department of education to : offer learners the opportunity to enhance their understanding of monetary policy and how it relates to the economy as a whole ; help learners understand better how the economy works ; assist learners to better understand how the sarb ’ s monetary policy committee makes decisions ; improve broad economic literacy in the country ; create an opportunity for learners to put the classroom economic theory into practice and thereby enhancing their understanding of economics ; stimulate interest among learners in a career as an economist ; and raise awareness and understanding of the role and responsibilities of the sarb. the mpc schools challenge has since been expanded to cover 7 provinces. we have also since partnered with the department of basic education and the provincial departments. we have had 450 schools participate in the challenge since 2012, involving 1 340 learners. by participation we mean schools whose team submitted an essay. a requirement of the programme is that participants take a combination of economics and mathematics subjects, excluding maths literacy. certain schools therefore do not qualify as they do not provide this learning combination. next year, the challenge will become national with the addition of kwazulu - natal and the western cape provinces. hence, today ’ s launch of the mpc schools challenge. the way the competition works is that each school must constitute a team of four learners who model themselves on the monetary policy committee ( mpc ). the team presents its case to a panel of sa reserve bank economists. representatives of the department of basic education moderate the outcome. to ensure that all entrants have access to the same basic data, the sarb provides learners with relevant economic data