Rand Tumbles On Report South Africa Seeks To Nationalize Central Bank

The South African rand has tumbled following a report confirming recent speculation that South Africa’s ruling African National Congress will propose that the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank be nationalized and wholly owned by the state, according to three people familiar with the discussions quoted by Bloomberg.
S. AFRICA’S ANC SAID TO PROPOSE CENTRAL BANK BE STATE-OWNED S. AFRICA’S CENTRAL BANK CURRENTLY HAS PRIVATE SHAREHOLDERS S. AFRICA CENTRAL BANK’S SHAREHOLDERS HAVE NO SAY ON POLICY Bloomberg adds that the proposal which will surely have negative consequences on the country’s financial stability was approved in plenary session of the party’s policy conference taking place in Johannesburg. However, the decision still to be ratified at the ANC electoral conference in December, so nothing is imminent. By way of background, Bloomberg reminds us that the central bank’s currently has about 600 private shareholders who have no say over the setting of monetary policy.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 5, 2017.