South Africa’s central bank governor, Lesetja Kganyago, says it is unrealistic for central banks to target specific employment levels, after the country’s governing African National Congress (ANC) said the bank should broaden its focus.
The ANC, which is trying to woo voters before a May election, in January said that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) should try to boost employment and economic growth alongside its goal for price stability.
The battle against unemployment has been a cornerstone of the presidency of ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa since he became South Africa’s president in February 2018.
“Employment levels are determined by many
different things, so putting a specific target on it for the central
bank to try to achieve is unrealistic,” Kganyago said during a lecture
at Stellenbosch University.
Kganyago
added that the case for the SARB’s existing inflation-targeting
framework was “very strong”, according to a copy of the lecture
distributed by the central bank.
