The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) on Friday said in a statement that it would hold a strategic planning session on inflation from September 28 to October 1.
In a statement, SARB Governor Tito Mboweni said: “In 2003, after three years of inflation targeting, it was decided to hold periodic strategic planning sessions of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to discuss broader theoretical monetary policy issues, as well as practical issues related to the implementation of the inflation targeting framework.
“The first strategic planning session was held in 2003. Having accumulated a further three years of experience, and mindful of new theoretical and technical developments in the area of monetary policy, the MPC decided early this year to organise another strategic planning session from September 28 to October 1 2006.”
The governor pointed out that as with the previous meeting in 2003, the current programme was structured to provide for “challenging debate around new perspectives”.
He added that the first session focused on international trends in the implementation of inflation targeting.
The second and third sessions would provide an opportunity for the MPC to “debate and challenge” the views of international experts on the South African macroeconomic policy framework and on dealing with macroeconomic imbalances.
The governor added that the remaining sessions related to the internal workings of the committee.
“These include a critical discussion of the forecasting models of the [Reserve] Bank, the content of the presentations to the MPC and the communication strategy of the [Reserve] Bank.
“The ultimate objective of the strategic planning session is to ensure the optimal implementation of monetary policy within the inflation targeting framework. This meeting is not meant to decide on a monetary policy stance,” the governor concluded. — I-Net Bridge