CAPE TOWN, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The ruling African National Congress (ANC) said on Friday it will scrutinize a just-submitted bill which proposes to nationalize the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the country's central bank.
The ANC will study the bill before deciding on the desirability of the bill and whether it is in line with the ANC policy, said Jackson Mthembu, Chief Whip of the ANC Office in Parliament.
This came after the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) submitted the SARB Amendment Bill to Parliament earlier this week, proposing to do away with private shareholders and "make the state the sole holder of the shares in the bank."
Unlike most central banks in the world, the SARB has been privately owned since it was established in 1921, but its shareholders have no control over monetary policy, financial stability policy or banking regulation.
As a result, the bank has been criticized for failing to help boost the economy and create jobs.
The debate on nationalizing the SARB has been going on for quite some time. There has been a growing call, even within the ANC, to nationalize the bank.
At its 54th national congress in December last year, the ANC proposed to nationalize the SARB so as to allow the government to own 100-percent of the bank's shares instead of the current arrangement where the shares are held by a number of private shareholders.
The change in its policy towards the SARB is seen as the ANC's move to boost economic growth after Cyril Ramaphosa took over Jacob Zuma as the ANC president.
But later the ANC softened its stance on the SARB due to growing jitters among investors.
The SARB insists that changing the ownership structure of the bank could raise the level of risk and uncertainty for the country in both the financial and economic policy sense.
