culminating in hyperinflation. but by the 1990s, growth and equality began to improve. with market - based reforms starting in the 1990s, combined with brazil ’ s move to inflation targeting and a flexible exchange rate in 1999, fiscal reforms that put public finances on a sustainable track early in the 2000s, and social programs tied to education and health, this virtuous cycle accelerated ( chart 5 ). the decline in inequality has been significant, with the gini coefficient falling from 0. 60 to below 0. 55. this combination of faster growth and declining inequality helped lift some 20 million brazilians out of poverty between 2004 and 2009. moreover, the potential to raise millions more out of poverty remains. indeed, broader cross - country evidence suggests that lower inequality may in turn be good for sustaining growth. based on the historical experiences of a broad sample of countries, recent research at the international monetary fund ( imf ) suggests that for a country with median inequality ( i. e., with a gini coefficient of 0. 40 ), a 10 - percentile decrease of the gini ( to 0. 37 ) increases the expected length of a growth spell by 50 per cent. 3 extrapolating from this study for the case of brazil, these point estimates suggest that the decline in the gini coefficient from 0. 60 to 0. 55 would be associated with a better than 75 per cent increase in the expected length of a growth spell, all other factors being equal. this bodes well for the future in brazil. these figures are taken from the world bank world development indicators database. a. berg and j. ostry, “ inequality and unsustainable growth : two sides of the same coin? ” staff discussion note no. sdn / 11 / 08, international monetary fund, 2011 ; and a. berg, j. ostry and j. zettelmeyer, “ what makes growth sustained? ” working paper no. wp / 08 / 59, international monetary fund, 2008. bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches what can central banks do? how economies enter the virtuous circle of growth that both reduces inequality and is more sustainable is a complex subject involving a broad range of factors and the full array of policy frameworks, including education, health, openness to trade, foreign investment, financial development, and fiscal, labour market and environmental policies. needless to say, these step well beyond the mandates and

francois groepe : south africa ’ s structural unemployment challenge – the most important issues to be addressed to place south africa on a sustainable growth path in an effort to reduce unemployment levels address by mr francois groepe, deputy governor of the south african reserve bank, on the occasion of the release of the 14th uasa south african employment report, johannesburg, 30 april 2015. * * * chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, i am pleased to be part of the proceedings of the day, as we gather here for the release of the 14th uasa employment report. this publication has grown in stature over the years and has earned itself a place amongst various high - level publications informing on the state of the south african labour market. this morning, i shall focus on the most important issues to be addressed to place south africa on a sustainable growth path in an effort to, amongst others reduce the unemployment levels. south africa counts, among its key challenges, its high level of structural unemployment which is exacerbated by the levels of poverty and inequality in the country. these challenges, in turn, give rise to a host of other socio - economic and socio - political challenges. earlier policies, such as the accelerated and shared growth initiative ( asgisa ) ( 2006 ), as well as the more recent long - term vision for south africa, as captured in the national development plan first released in 2012, highlight the requirement for economic growth in excess of 5 per cent on a sustained basis to meaningfully make inroads towards reducing the high levels of unemployment. prior to the global financial crisis in 2008 / 09, some progress had been made in reducing overall levels of unemployment in the country as strong global and local economic growth resulted in higher levels of output leading to increased demand for labour. south africa, in fact, had experienced one of its longest periods of uninterrupted economic growth – 55 quarters of growth averaging between 3 and 5, 6 per cent annually. as the global economic growth recovered after the financial crisis, albeit hesitantly and unevenly, south africa lagged behind, growing at rates well below its potential, which had been negatively been impacted by strained relations and industrial action, but also by structural deficiencies such as the electricity load shedding. while south africa has performed well in managing to largely contain inflation, within the inflation target range, and no doubt assisted in part by the lower international food and oil prices, the country has been less successful in matching levels of growth as experienced in other developing