The South African (SA) Central bank’s Chief Economist Christopher Loewald, a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member, is taking early retirement effective from March 1, 2026, the bank said on Friday.
He will start a six-month “cooling-off period” at the beginning of March and the process of appointing his successor is currently under way, the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) said in a statement.
The SARB’s MPC consists of up to seven members but currently only has six, including Loewald.
The MPC decided to keep its main lending rate steady at 6.75% this week in a split decision, with four members preferring no change in the repo rate and two favouring a 25 basis point cut.
The bank’s next interest rate announcement is scheduled for March 26.
–Reuters–
