Sarb Appoints Makrelov as the Sixth Member of the MPC

The South African Reserve Bank has appointed Konstantin Makrelov as a new member of its interest-rate-setting committee, succeeding Chris Loewald, who retired in March.

Makrelov will assume the role of chief economist at the bank and will also serve on its Financial Stability Committee, as announced in a statement sent from Pretoria on Monday. This appointment is effective immediately.

This decision brings the total number of MPC members to six and comes ahead of the central bank’s next interest-rate announcement scheduled for May 28. At the previous meeting, the bank maintained its key rate at 6.75% to allow policymakers to evaluate the impact of the US-Israel conflict with Iran on the inflation forecast.

Makrelov joined the central bank in November 2018 and was appointed divisional head of economic and climate change-related research in January 2024.

In these positions, he played a key role in shaping the SARB’s economic analysis and research agenda, which contributed to monetary and macroeconomic policy, along with addressing longer-term structural challenges facing the South African economy.

Prior to his tenure at the bank, he spent 12 years at the National Treasury, focusing on fiscal forecasting and evaluating significant government policies, as stated.

Makrelov holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, a Master’s degree in economic science, and a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics from the University of the Witwatersrand.

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