South Africa appoints former Nigerian finance minister to economic council

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed former Nigerian finance minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to the country’s Economic Advisory Council.

The news comes as South Africa faces further economic hardship, having recently slipped into its second recession in two years. The economy contracted 1.4% in the last quarter of 2019, outstripping experts’ estimates of a 0.2% decline. 

At the council’s inauguration in October last year, President Rampahosa said its purpose was to ensure greater coherence and consistency in economic policy, and to ensure that government and society in general were better equipped to deal with challenging economic circumstances.

The council is a non-statutory, independent body chaired by the President and attended by prominent experts from across academia, think tanks and the private sector. 

On Saturday, Ms Okonjo-Iweala tweeted a picture of a council meeting with the caption: “With President Ramaphosa, members of cabinet, and members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council in Pretoria discussing sources of growth for the South African economy and win-win economic interactions with the continent”.

The two-term finance minister and former managing director of the World Bank is also the board chair of the African Risk Capacity and a board member of Standard Chartered bank and Twitter. 

Nigerian politician and former vice-presidential candidate Peter Obi described Okonjo-Iweala as “an exceptional personality and first class ambassador of our country Nigeria and one whose commitment to a better society remains outstanding”. 

Photo: AfDB