Tito Mboweni joins Goldman Sachs
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Apr 26 2010 10:04
Tito Mboweni, former South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor, will join Goldman Sachs as an international adviser from June, his third high-profile appointment since leaving the central bank in November. Mboweni (51), who was head of the SARB for a decade, has been appointed chairperson of mining group AngloGold Ashanti and packaging firm Nampak.
The United States-based investment bank said his experience and knowledge of the political and financial environment would compliment its business capabilities in the region.
"In this capacity, he will provide strategic advice to the firm on business development opportunities, with a particular focus on South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa," Goldman Sachs MD for South Africa Colin Coleman said.
Mboweni, a former Cabinet minister, left the central bank in November last year after a decade as governor but could not work elsewhere during a six-month "cooling-off" period, which ends in May. -- Reuters
Labels: CORRUPTION, GOLDMAN SACHS, TITO MBOWENI
Read more...
Mboweni's Anglo job reward for protecting 'white capital': ANC YL
by Business Reporter
24/02/2010 00:00:00
THE African National Congress’ Youth League on Wednesday launched an astonishing attack on Tito Mboweni, the former central bank chief, after he accepted a post as chairman of AngloGold Ashanti.
The Youth League, which has proposed the nationalisation of South African mines, said Mboweni’s move was “not at all surprising”.
“Mboweni’s appointment into a mining corporation ... reflects the reactionary, nonsensical and backward views he expressed when he was the mis-governor of the South African Reserve Bank that mines will not be nationalised in South Africa,” the Youth League said in a statement.
The Youth League said as governor, Mboweni was always “speaking the views of white capital, which controls the South African economy, particularly the extraction, processing and trade of minerals.”
“His latest appointment is clearly a reward for protecting the interests of male white capital,” the statement signed by the Youth League’s spokesman Floyd Shivambu said.
South African President Jacob Zuma has refused to commit himself on the Youth League’s call for nationalisation, saying there should be a national debate.
"We reiterate that nationalisation is not government policy," Zuma said in parliament in a reply to debate on his state-of-the-nation address last week.
He said the government could not stop ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema and other political formations from debating nationalisation.
"This is a democracy. He (Malema) has views, the ANC Youth League always has views. Debate the views of Malema and don't confuse a debate raised to policy of government," Zuma said to applause.
Malema said recently that nationalisation would happen “before I die”.
The Youth League said is “assures all South Africans that no amount of diversions, including by co-opted black reactionaries, will successfully oppose the nationalisation of mines ...”
It said the nationalisation of mines was “a key towards decisive and radical economic transformation which will benefit all South Africans, particularly the working class and the poor”.
Mining investors have expressed disquiet at the push for nationalisation.
Labels: ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, ANGLO-AMERICAN, CORRUPTION, JULIUS MALEMA, NATIONALISATION, NEOLIBERALISM, TITO MBOWENI
Read more...
Advanced economies must shun protectionism, says SA governor
By Joan Chirwa
Tuesday April 22, 2008 [04:00]
ADVANCED economies must shun protectionism and cut significantly agricultural subsidies for a successful outcome of the Doha Round, South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni has said. Presenting a statement to the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the IMF on behalf of South Africa, Zambia and other countries in the sub-Saharan region, Mboweni said the cut in agricultural subsidies and tariffs by the developed countries could lead to a successful Doha outcome in the global interest.
He said the slow and uneven progress of the Doha Round negotiations since resumption in late 2006 was disappointing and called for an early and substantial conclusion of the Round.
"It is our view that progress, at the desired pace, will not be made without courageous and purposeful leadership from advanced economies," Mboweni said. "In addition, aid for trade facilitation needs to be sustained.
We also stress that multilateral trade reforms, facilitating a better functioning of the international trading system, would be helpful in securing market access for developing countries' exports."
Mboweni said strong growth momentum in Low Income member Countries (LICs) would eventually reflect positively on the weakening global economy.
"We in the sub-Saharan Africa therefore expect the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to play an effective catalytic role in bringing about prompt and successful conclusion of the Doha Round.
In a similar vein, we suggest that assistance in implementation of trade-related reforms and strengthening of LICs' competitiveness needs stepping up under the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), while donors should redeem pledges made for increased aid for trade in line with the Paris principle on aid effectiveness."
And Mboweni said countries in sub-Saharan Africa require a sustained average annual growth rate of over seven per cent in order to lift the region out of poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"This could only be brought about through deliberate efforts to expand the sources of growth, including diversification of our economies and overcoming other challenges to meeting the desired growth targets," said Mboweni.
"Such challenges include, low savings and investment, erosion of trade preferences, oil price-induced shocks for net oil-importing countries, drought, unpredictable aid flows, HIV/AIDS, and possible continuous global economic slowdown.
We consider that persistent implementation of sound policies in sub-Saharan African countries and strong support of the international community and the Fund are critical in overcoming the constraints to sustainable growth for poverty reduction and meeting the MDGs."
Labels: IMF, SOUTH AFRICA, TITO MBOWENI
Read more...
