In real terms, the labour productivity of the companies covered by the PSIS increased by an annual average of 5.1 percent between 2010 and 2015. This is much higher than the estimated 2.2 percent average annual labour productivity growth for the economy as a whole over the same period.
In the words of Kenneth Rogoff, ‘with the global rise of populism and autocracy, central bank independence is under threat’. 5 This applies to many countries, developing and advanced, including South Africa. South Africa’s disappointing economic performance over the past 10 years has contributed to growing calls for the expansion of the mandate of the SARB to directly stimulate growth and address unemployment.