Transparency of the South African Reserve Bank

Abstract

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is a central bank. It is the public institution responsiblefor managing the South African monetary policy. Any decisions taken by the bank and how thesedecisions are communicated affect all the participants in the economic activity of the country.This study undertook a thematic analysis of the media releases, monetary policy statementsand SARB Governors’ speeches delivered between 2008 and 2009. It revealed that the SARB,through having achieved a relatively high level of economic and policy transparency, achievedlower procedural and political transparency. The results also indicate that, despite there being anincreased demand for the accountability of organisations to a broad spectrum of stakeholders,the SARB directs most of its communications to only a relatively limited group of stakeholders.