Organizers: Nicola Viegi and Vincent Dadam (University of Pretoria, SAMNET)

Our 3rd Virtual SAMNet Workshop explored the latest developments in macroeconomics and was followed by a Policy Panel Discussion. In particular, the workshop delved into innovations regarding exchange rate behaviour, expectations, the inflation target and instruments of monetary policy.

We were joined by two keynote speakers:

Jenny Tang
Jenny Tang is a senior economist in the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department. Her research interests include macroeconomics, monetary policy, and international finance. She earned her BS in economics and international business at New York University and her MA and PhD in economics at Harvard University.

Christiane Baumeister
Christiane Baumeister is the Robert and Irene Bozonne Professor and Associate Chair at the University of Notre Dame; a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research and has been a visiting research scholar at the International Monetary Fund, the Banque de France, the University of California at San Diego, and the NIPE research center in economics and a Principal Researcher in the International Economic Analysis Department at the Bank of Canada.

You can find the presentations on the playlist below: The program of the Workshop was as follows:

Policy Panel Discussion: Monetary Policy Framework in South Africa Quo Vadis? The Policy Panel Discussion, chaired by Matthew Simmonds, questioned whether the inflation target and monetary policy instruments are still appropriate for our monetary policy framework, and what impact lowering the inflation target may have. The panelists were as follows: • Nicola Viegi (University of Pretoria; ERSA) • Chris Loewald (SARB) • Mamokete Lijane (ABSA Group) • Yolande Smit (National Treasury) You can find the Policy Panel Discussion below: