Lesetja Kganyago has been appointed the new Director General of the South African National Treasury.
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel made the announcement at a press conference in Pretoria on Thursday.
The announcement came as no surprise to capital market participants, who earlier on Thursday said Kganyago was tipped to fill the post.
The new director general will oversee about 600 staff and R330-billion in expenditure.
Kganyago is currently Deputy Director General of economic policy and international financial relations.
Former director general Maria Ramos announced her move to parastatal transport utility Transnet in September last year and the Treasury has been processing applications for her post since then.
Ismail Momoniat, the head of intergovernmental relations, has been acting director general since Ramos left the treasury at the end of November.
Kganyago was the immediate favourite when Ramos’s departure was announced as he was involved in drafting the Financial Services Charter.
An economist who graduated from Unisa and London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies, Kganyago joined the Treasury after two years at the South African Reserve Bank managing the forward book.
He has a background of politics and trade unionism, and worked with Ramos and Manuel in the African National Congress’s economic planning department before the 1994 elections.
He spent five years in charge of liability management at the Treasury, a job that involves overseeing local and foreign government bond issues and working with the bond market.
Capital market participants pointed out that he combines experience of currency and capital markets with the political skill needed for the top job. — I-Net Bridge