Introduction  It is an honour to welcome you once again to the South African Reserve Bank for what has become an annual event on our calendar. Every year I am humbled by the turnout, and this year is no exception. This past year has been an extremely challenging one from a monetary policy perspective.
Some of the challenges have emanated domestically, but external economic and geopolitical events have also provided challenges to us as well as to many other central banks around the world. This evening I will give a brief broad-brush review of some of these developments. Further details can be found in our publications, including our Quarterly Bulletin which will be released next week.