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Pretoria - The South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) and its subsidiaries have recorded an after-tax comprehensive loss of R1.3bn in the financial year ended March this year‚ mainly as a result of costs incurred when issuing the new banknotes bearing the image of former President Nelson Mandela as well as increased staff costs.
The bank's annual report for the financial year ended 31 March 2013 was released in Pretoria on Friday.
The R1.3bn loss compares with a loss of R400m in the previous financial year.
“A significant proportion of the increased loss is attributed to the cost associated with issuing the new banknote series‚” governor Gill Marcus said in the annual report document.
“Furthermore‚ income earned on foreign-exchange reserves remains constrained by the abnormally low level of interest rates in the advanced economies‚” she said.
The bank's operating costs increased by R1.1bn from R2.8bn in the 2012 financial year to R3.9bn in the year ended March this year.
Staff costs also rose from R1.6bn the previous year to R1.8bn.
Higher staff costs were attributed to an annual salary increment of 7%‚ an increase in staff headcount which the bank said was necessary to support the latest regulatory requirements and a net increase in the post-employment benefit actuarial valuations largely due to “a decline in the net discount rate used.”
Despite the costs incurred from it‚ Ms Marcus referred to the launch of the new “Mandela” banknote series as the highlight of the year. The new banknotes contain upgraded security features and were launched in November last year.
Mr Mandela‚ who turns 95 next month‚ is in hospital battling a recurring lung infection.
As at the financial year-end‚ Sarb had 668 shareholders‚ of which 69 were not ordinarily resident in South Africa‚ compared to 668 shareholders in the past financial year. 67 of them were not resident in South Africa at the time.
