STATEMENT ON THE APPOINTMENT OF THE NEW RESERVE BANK GOVERNOR 

Johannesburg, 6 October 2014

The South African Communist Party congratulates Mr Lesetja Kganyago on his appointment as the Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, to take over from Ms Gill Marcus on 9 November.

The announcement of Mr Kganyago's appointment today by President Jacob Zuma comes a day after our successful historic launch of the Red October Campaign 2014/5 with focus on the transformation of the financial sector to serve the people. 

The SACP expects Mr Kganyago to lead the Reserve Bank with the interests of the people first, as opposed to private financial interests which are driven by the profit motive and banking models that cause crisis as we have seen with the implosion of the world economy and recently African Bank. We expect the Reserve Bank's conservative stance on the policy of inflation targeting and therefore the conduct of monetary policy through high interest rates, to continue easing instead of being reinforced on a new, aggressive basis.

We are also looking forward to working with the Reserve Bank as an important independent institution both in the financial sector and the economy towards the achievement of the transformation of the financial sector. As we continue with the struggle and engage in policy work to roll back neoliberalism and reverse its devastating impact on the lives of our people, the majority of whom are the workers and the poor, we will streamline engagements with the Bank. 

The SACP would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms Marcus for the best of her contribution in Reserve Bank as Governor.

Statement issued by the SACP, October 6 2014

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