The Transformation of South Africa’s Monetary Architecture Report

A new research report from the National Planning Commission has unpacked South Africa's

complex financial ecosystem and proposes ways that it can be transformed to benefit more people as well as address inequality The concept of ‘monetary architecture’ is introduced as a means to understand the architecture of this complex financial ecosystem, providing a basis for recommendations to establish the macro-financial governance required to address key obstacles. It challenges the conventional policy division between public and private sector financing, arguing instead for a systemic approach that places macro-financial governance at the centre of structural transformation. The report undertakes an extensive empirical mapping of the South African monetary architecture at four key historical inflexion points: 1983, 1996, 2014, and 2024. Each phase is analysed in terms of the evolution of balance sheet reconfigurations, institutional reforms, and macro-financial trends. This mapping shows that the monetary architecture has remained racially structured, both spatially and institutionally, despite the end of formal apartheid. To help us unpack this report further, we are joined by…

Guest: Prof. Mark Swilling - Commissioner at the National Planning Commission and Professor of Sustainable Development in the Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST) in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Stellenbosch