They let us know when our raising of rates pushes up their bond repayments. They do a good job of getting a cost-of-living adjustment every year. They often don’t realise how many poorer people there are out there, because they assume they are roughly in the middle of the income distribution, not close to the top.
But we as the central bank have to think about everyone in South Africa, including the other 80% of households. I hope that today I have left you with a clearer sense of what monetary policy does, and what it cannot do. At the simplest level, we know that low inflation has many benefits, so that’s what we aim to deliver.