South African Reserve Bank deputy chief quits

Bloomberg

South African Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Francois Groepe has resigned, leaving only five people on the central bank’s rate-setting panel.
He will leave at the end of the month, which is after the Monetary Policy Committee’s next interest-rate decision on January 17. Groepe has been a deputy governor and member of the MPC since January 2012.
The MPC increased its benchmark rate in November even as half of the six panel members favoured an unchanged stance. The central bank’s quarterly projection model shows four more rate increases of 25 basis points each by the end of 2020. While inflation accelerated to an 18-month high in November, it remains inside the bank’s 3 percent to 6 percent target band.
The announcement com-es at the start of a year in which the current terms of Governor Lesetja Kganyago and Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele run out.
The process of choosing a successor is under way, the central bank said in a statement. The Reserve Bank governor and his three deputies are appointed
by the president of the
country, making Groepe’s
replacement the first senior executive selected by President Cyril Ramaphosa after he took over from Jacob Zuma as leader of the
country last year.