One way to measure how serious an inflation targeting central bank is about achieving its inflation target is whether it pays its staff wage increases that are in line with its inflation target. Today’s post shows that under the last three governors, the SARB’s staff have received wage increases several percentage points higher than the inflation target. Its worth noting that only Gill Marcus received lower growth in her remuneration than the inflation target. Governor Kganyago, by comparison, received a total pay package increase of 10.2% in 2023/24. Since 2002, headline CPI inflation averaged 5.5%, while SARB average wages grew at 8.3% per year (or 8.7% if benefits are included). Unfortunately, SARB does not report detailed data for different roles in the organisation or by level of seniority over time so one cannot tell the extent to which average wage changes reflect a compositional shift in its staff complement.
