Last blast from The Guv

Tito Mboweni after a long and illustrious career as The Guv of the Reserve Bank is to retire. His tenure was dominated by the policy of inflation targeting. Tito is moving on to be replaced by Gill Marcus. This may or may not herald a policy change, but The Guv is giving it his best in his last few moments at the helm. He recently addressed University of Johannesburg students and these are some of the points that he made:

• Bank should remain independent
• Scathing of government management
• Bank should protect the currency

These are pretty normal ideas in the particular economic framework that most of the world exists in. The fact that the Bank is private however does allow control of the money in the country to be outside of government control. Money control can often have a larger effect than who is actually in government. The government set the policy of inflation targeting for which Mboweni came in for a lot of flak.

While the policy of inflation targeting can be seen to have been successful it still has many detractors and it will be interesting to see if the Reserve bank takes a new stance under the new Guv. The South African economy has so far weathered the global crisis better than many others and we are expecting a boost with the World Cup next year. Regardless of any new policy now is always a good time to plan your budget and make sure that you are not surprised by any shocks that may come in the future.

Reserve Bank gets all 2.0

The South African Reserve Bank has caught up with the internet and is now offering a webcast of its MPC meetings. MPC meetings are, let's face it, deathly dull. No-one except real finance geeks would watch it if it wasn't for the fact that the decisions of the MPC have such far reaching effects on us. The MPC sets the interest rate and that sets how much our credit costs us. Some of the things that can be affected by a change in the interest rate are:

• Your homeloan
• Your credit card
• Your short term loans

Now when the MPC changes the interest rate and they are expected to again this week, then there may be savings for you in the three things mentioned above. However these savings are not always passed on to the consumer and it is always a good idea to check with experts and see if there can be a reduction in what you pay and how you can get it. Often you will have to ask for the newer better rate, but as the interest rate goes down it costs the banks less to borrow money from the Reserve Bank and these savings should be passed onto you the consumer.

The interesting thing for Justmoney is the live webcast aspect the SARB has introduced, it may not have the greatest layout, and it may not be especially alternative browser friendly but the Bank is trying to get with the future and bring a bit of 2.0 to the MPC at SARB. You can watch live streaming financial dullness right on your own screen. A perfect way to spend Thursday afternoon, especially if you have a homeloan, a credit card or a short term loan. That said finance geeks like us here at Justmoney we look forward to the MPC meetings and always watch Uncle Tito lay it down, so why don't you join us Thursday 25th June at 3pm for the live webcast.