South Africa's anti-graft watchdog defends comments on central bank

South Africa's anti-graft watchdog on Tuesday defended her recommendation that the central bank's mandate of maintaining currency and price stability be changed, saying the bank should act in the interests of empowering ordinary citizens.

Busisiwe Mkhwebane also said in an interview with 702 Talk Radio that the central bank's mandate was focused on a "few commercial interests."

The rand dropped as much as 1.6 percent on Monday after Mkhwebane recommended changes to make the Reserve Bank promote economic growth rather than inflation targeting and currency stability.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)