Inflows of capital meant that the current account deficit was comfortably financed, while it also resulted in significant appreciation of the rand. This in turn helped to contain inflation, allowing room for accommodative monetary policy over a fairly extended period. However, these trends started to reverse in May 2013 in anticipation of US monetary policy normalisation, following indications to that effect from the Fed.
We are confident about what we have achieved, but as central bankers we are always “vigilant” and never complacent. Thank you for listening, and I look forward to hearing your views. 1 See The future of the euro area 2 See “The Five Presidents’ Report: Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union”, 22 June 2015.