Proposed revisions to the mandate and independence of the SARB

The IEJ argues that the SARB's current focus on inflation targeting through interest rate manipulation is a 'blunt approach' that fails to address the external drivers of inflation—such as climate change and global oil prices—while hindering job creation and industrial productivity. The submission contends that the SARB's independence has led to insufficient coordination with the National Treasury, entrenching the economic status quo. To remedy this, the IEJ recommends expanding the SARB's mandate to explicitly include green structural transformation and poverty reduction, and tempering its independence to ensure closer cooperation with the Executive on socioeconomic stability.

• The SARB's reliance on inflation targeting and the manipulation of the 'repo rate' to achieve price stability has resulted in high real interest rates that constrain economic demand and encourage speculative financial investment, which the IEJ claims is 'detrimental to job creation, industrial productivity, and development'.
• The document asserts that South Africa's primary inflationary pressures are exogenous and external, including oil and food prices influenced by 'climatic conditions', making the SARB's interest-rate-focused toolkit ill-suited to tackle these drivers.
• The IEJ argues that the SARB's independence has been interpreted too broadly, leading to a lack of cooperation with the National Treasury and the preservation of 'existing patterns of investment' in capital-intensive sectors like mining and energy.
• Climate change is identified as a systemic risk that increases inflationary pressure by threatening the availability of food, water, and electricity, and increasing the costs of disaster recovery and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
• The IEJ proposes two primary constitutional revisions: expanding the SARB's mandate to emphasize 'green structural transformation, employment-rich growth, and the reduction of poverty and inequality', and increasing the requirement for coordination between the SARB and the Executive.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2025). Proposed revisions to the mandate and independence of the SARB. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IEJ-Submission-on-SARB-and-Constitution-1.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Proposed revisions to the mandate and independence of the SARB. 2025. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IEJ-Submission-on-SARB-and-Constitution-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Proposed revisions to the mandate and independence of the SARB |date=31 May 2025 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IEJ-Submission-on-SARB-and-Constitution-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforeconomicjustice2025proposed, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Proposed revisions to the mandate and independence of the SARB}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2025}, month = may, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IEJ-Submission-on-SARB-and-Constitution-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }