Lesetja Kganyago: Monetary policy - why we target inflation

Address by Mr Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 25 April 2017.

Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to deliver this lecture on why we target inflation.

Introduction

South Africa is at an intensely contested, creative moment in its history. The country is energetically debating the problems we face and the policies we should implement to fix these problems. Many of these problems have no straightforward answers. But if we are to fix them, it is appropriate that we take risks, conduct experiments, and accept some chance of failure.