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The Congress of South African Trade Unions is deeply disappointed that the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank has yet again missed an opportunity to give some hope to the millions living in poverty and without jobs by cutting interest rates. She has dashed their hope of an end to the economic catastrophe in which they are surviving.

By leaving the Repo Rate unchanged, the Monetary Policy Committee has let down those who were hoping for an end to the rigid conservative policies of former SARB Governor, Tito Mboweni, and condemned the majority of South Africans to more months of struggling to survive.

Although there is some minimal evidence that the economy is beginning to revive, the improvement is far too small to allow for any complacency, and workers and the poor are still mired in a deep recession. As COSATU has been saying for the past years, South Africa has a national emergency, which requires an urgent national response.

While Government, business and labour are starting, albeit too slowly, to implement the many excellent proposals in the Framework Agreement on South Africa's response to the global crisis, to escape from the recession and save and create jobs, the Reserve Bank is sabotaging their efforts by sticking with policies that take us in the opposite direction.

High interest rates imposed a big debt burden of business which are already struggling, to keep afloat. It discourages them from trying to save existing jobs and is a disincentive making new investment that could create new ones. The Reserve Bank is thus completely out of line with the national priorities of government, labour and much of the business community.

There is an overwhelming case for a substantial cut in interest rates and COSATU will keep arguing for the Governor to abandon Mboweni's obsession with inflation-targeting, which is becoming less and less relevant, as inflation continues to come down, while unemployment continues to rise. The Bank's strategy must instead start to target economic growth and job creation.

Today's announcement will reinforce the strong argument for nationalising the Reserve Bank. Although its shareholders are supposed to be forbidden from influencing its monetary policy, is it not a coincidence that month after month, the Bank pursues policies that reflect the views of particularly the financial sector leaders and their ‘expert' commentators, rather than those of the majority of South Africans.

This raises a strong suspicion that pressure is being exerted discretely behind the scenes for policies that serve the interests of finance capital. There should be no place for private shareholders in a public body that should be listening to all South Africans and following policies in their interests.