board of governors of the page 4 of 10 federal reserve system, the president of the federal reserve bank of new york, and 4 of the remaining 11 reserve bank presidents who serve one - year terms on a rotating basis. the presidents of all the other reserve banks attend the meetings but they do not have a vote. the voting record of the fomc is made public. revealing the individual members'votes does not necessarily mean that there is a democratic outcome. alan blinder, the former vice chair of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, refers the possibility of'autocratic collegial'processes where the chair ’ s preference is likely to be the consensus outcome. it is well documented that under alan greenspan ’ s chairmanship of the fed, for example, there was a tradition that no more than two members would vote against the chair ’ s wishes. in such instances, while there is an appearance of democratic processes, the reality may be quite different. what is the practice in south africa? the primary goal of the sarb is the maintenance of price stability. this is confirmed in the constitution of the country, and we have applied policy within an inflation - targeting framework since february 2000. the target in effect quantifies our constitutional mandate. the constitution is, however, silent on how monetary policy should be conducted, and this allows for monetary policy practices to evolve over time. the'how'is discretionary, and the constitution gives the sarb autonomy or independence in making these policy decisions. an mpc was first constituted in october 1999. prior to this, decisions were made by the governor at times that were not pre - set. generally, announcements were a surprise, made on late friday afternoons after the local financial markets had closed. with the introduction of inflation targeting, practices have evolved. it is not my intention to outline all these changes here tonight, but i would rather like to focus on the current practice. monetary policy decisions are made by the mpc, which currently comprises six members : the governor, the three deputy governors, and two other senior officials of the sarb. the composition and workings of the mpc are governed by internal terms page 5 of 10 of reference, which make provision for up to four senior officials apart from the four governors. the choice of these officials is the prerogative of the governor, after consultation with the deputy governors. these appointments are not ex - officio and are therefore not automatically related to a specific position within the

members constitute the press conference panel, and questions are taken from the press and other analysts who can dial in. accountability and transparency are further enhanced through the biannual publication of the monetary policy review ( mpr ), in which an in - depth analysis of the monetary policy stance is presented. the mpr is launched at a national monetary policy forum ( mpf ), with all mpc members on the panel ; the launch is open to all interested stakeholders. the mpf is usually attended by more than 300 people. thereafter, a series of regional mpfs is conducted, with at least one mpc member as chair, at about nine different venues around the country. as part of our communication strategy, we also arrange stakeholder engagements. we regularly meet with foreign and domestic asset managers and investors. our outreach programme includes different groups from the broader society. these include trade unions, business associations and political parties. we also have an economic round - table discussion with economic analysts every alternate month, and we engage regularly with the academic community. ultimately, we are accountable to parliament. the sarb's annual report is presented to the parliamentary standing page 9 of 10 committee on finance, and we report to the committee whenever requested by parliament to do so. last but not least, the press and general news media are an integral part of our communication strategy. not only do the media report what we say, but they also interpret ( and in some cases misinterpret ) what we say. in order to improve the understanding of our thinking, and to encourage accurate coverage, the mpc meets with editors from the main publications at least twice a year, and once a year with senior journalists. and in order to enhance the quality of financial journalism, the sarb sponsors a chair in financial journalism at rhodes university. the steps towards communication and transparency undertaken by central banks and the sarb in particular have been significant. while we have our own communication strategies, we cannot do this without close interaction with the press and broader media. we depend on each other. the press in south africa has a proud tradition of being open, vibrant and questioning. i am sure that you, present here this evening, will carry on this tradition. my heartiest congratulations go to the winner of the award. thank you. page 10 of 10