Crystal holds Economics degrees from Rhodes University and a Masters in Finance (majoring in economic policy) from SOAS University of London. She started her career in 2011 as an intern at the National Treasury, where she gained insights into the national budgeting process. Crystal joined the South African Reserve Bank’s cadet programme as an economist the following year. In 2013, she joined the SARB’s international economic unit, with a specific focus on the analysis of emerging markets. After four years, she moved to the international department, where she dealt with the G20 and BRICS. Her work involved establishing the SARB’s position on items relevant to central banking on the global agenda, coordinating the relevant work across the SARB, and preparing Governors for the meetings. After four years, she returned to the research department to focus on analysing the domestic economy and its implications for monetary policy. Crystal joined Nedbank in November 2022 to focus on domestic industry analysis, capital expenditure trends, and the energy transition. She gives talks regularly nationwide to various audiences, including business forums, property groups, and corporate firms.

Ms. Nompumelelo Radebe is a Technical Assistance Advisor in the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund  in Washington D.C., USA. Formerly, she was Director in the Public Finance Division of the National Treasury of South Africa with over 15 years’ experience in Public Financial Management and Policy Analysis. Her role entailed provision of budget, policy and programme support to the police sector in South Africa. She also contributed to key budget publications such as the Budget Review, Medium Term Budget Policy Statement and the Estimates (and Adjusted Estimates) of National Expenditure.
 

Ms Radebe has contributed to the development and implementation of several public financial management reforms at both local and national government level such as on expenditure and performance monitoring and reporting, capacity building, performance-based budgeting, and more recently, gender-responsive budgeting. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Sydney in Australia, a Certificate of Advanced Study in Public Administration from Syracuse University in the United States (US), and a Bachelor of Technology Degree and National Diploma in Public Finance and Accounting from Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa

Isaah is the Chief Economist of Rand Merchant Bank, responsible for providing strategic economic advice to the bank and its clients.

Part of my responsibility involve leading the Rand Merchant Bank Markets Research Team covering macroeconomics, fixed income, currencies, credit, data science and machine learning, and ESG for South Africa and several African countries, the UK, India, and the US, to serve the bank, institutional and corporate clients Formerly, he was the Executive Chief Economist of Alexforbes and a member of Alexforbes Investments Limited executive committee (Exco).

He has more than a decade industry experience spanning both public and private sector, having started his professional career as an economist at the International Monetary Fund’s regional office in Pretoria. He has worked for the National Treasury’s economic policy unit. His private sector experience span roles as an economist at two local investment banks, where he was responsible for macroeconomic strategy and forecasting before he joined Alexforbes as its Executive Chief Economist. Isaah has also lectured undergraduate economics and econometrics at the University of Johannesburg.

He is a Trustee of Study Trust and a Non- Executive Board Member of Kutlwanong, both of which are Non-Profit Organisations specialising in the education sector. He is a Fellow of the Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) and a columnist for the Business Day and Sunday Times where he writes on fiscal policy, monetary policy, financial markets, and investments. Isaah was named Economist of the year 2019 by the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP).

Qualifications (All from the University of Johannesburg):

MCom in Financial Economics; BCom (Hons) in Econometrics; BCom in Economics and Econometrics

Isaac is an Economist in the Group Economic Unit, Nedbank Group. He was previously with Standard Bank Ltd’s Group Economics Division – Africa Desk, and Investment Solutions Ltd’s Market and Economic research unit.

He holds degrees in Economics from the University of North West and the University of South Africa and a Masters in Commerce specialising in Development Finance from the University of Cape Town. His research interests include the development of capital markets in developing economies, development finance, fiscal policy and sovereign risk analysis.

He is a regular commentator in the print and electronic media.

Johann is responsible for all areas of macro-economic research. This includes analysis of the global economy – specifically those economies that impact most on South Africa, namely the USA, Europe and China. He is also tasked with detailed research of all South African economic variables. Specific focus areas include the rand, inflation, interest rates and fiscal matters. Johann provides economic input into the investment processes of the various investment boutiques within Old Mutual Investment Group. In addition, he serves as economist for the broader Old Mutual. Economic research is done with one thing in mind: What is the impact on the different asset classes and thus investment decisions?

After graduating at the University of Stellenbosch, where he studied courtesy of a South African Reserve Bank (SARB) bursary, Johann joined the SARB’s. Following a period as an economics lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch, he joined Trust Bank (one of the constituent banks of today’s ABSA Bank) as an economist. Johann joined Old Mutual as an economist in 1991.

Nontsikelelo Mbono is an accomplished business executive and seasoned economist with almost 25 years of experience in diverse sectors. Her previous roles include 8 years in the mining industry with BHP Billiton and 11 years in the public sector at the Deputy Director-General level, where she was responsible for shareholder oversight and driving strategies for major infrastructure state-owned companies. She has worked at ICASA and the National Electricity Regulator and served on various boards, including MEETI, Energy and Water SETA, and the Special Economic Zones Advisory Board to the Minister of Trade and Industry.

She holds an M Com (Economics) and a B Com (Honours) in Economics degrees from the University of Cape Town, and a BA from the University of the Western Cape. The Long-term Planning for Ports Development course gave her an overarching perspective of how the Singaporean government strategically integrated planning for development of ports for the country and the East Asia region to facilitate competitive access to cargo to and from all major global regions.

Dr Modise is a deputy governor of the SARB and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. She oversees the Financial Stability Cluster, which includes the newly established Corporation for Deposit Insurance (CODI), the Economic Statistics Department, the Risk Management and Compliance Department, and the Fintech Unit.

Dr Modise was appointed Deputy Governor by the President, with effect from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2029.

Before joining the SARB, she was Deputy Director-General of Public Finance at National Treasury, responsible for fiscal and financing monitoring, and the evaluation of policy proposals across national departments. She was also responsible for assessing the performance and oversight of public and state-owned entities.

Formerly a chief director for strategy and risk management at National Treasury’s Asset and Liability Management Division, she was responsible for the implementation of a strategy and risk management framework and managed government’s relationships with global rating agencies. Her previous roles include Director of Fiscal Policy and Senior Economist in the Economic Policy Division at National Treasury.  She started her career at the SARB, first as an intern in 2004 and later as an economist in the Economic Research Department until 2009.

Dr Modise holds a BCom in Economics, BCom Honours in Econometrics, an MCom in Econometrics (cum laude) and a PhD in Economics, all from the University of Pretoria.