Mboweni Says Central Bank Candidates Gender, Race Balanced

(Bloomberg) -- South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said he and the country's central bank governor, Lesetja Kganyago, agreed to recommend two candidates for the deputy central bank governor posts.

“We agreed to recommend to the president two deputy governor candidates,” he said in a Twitter posting after the two officials met on Thursday, where they also discussed the independence of the bank. “One female and one man. Gender and race balance.”

There are three monetary policy committee members who currently don't hold the post of deputy governor or governor. They are Fundi Tshazibana, adviser to the governor, Chris Loewald, appointed as an MPC member last month, and Rashad Cassim.

Daniel Mminele, who stepped down on June 30, was the second deputy governor to leave the central bank in six months after Francois Groepe's surprise resignation in January. His departure took the Monetary Policy Committee back to five members and Kuben Naidoo is the last remaining deputy governor.

The president appoints the Reserve Bank governor and three deputies for a fixed five-year term. While President Cyril Ramaphosa met with the central bank's board, Kganyago and the deputy finance minister three weeks ago to discuss vacancies in its executive, he is yet to announce who will fill them.

To contact the reporter on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John McCorry at jmccorry@bloomberg.net, Rene Vollgraaff

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