S.Africa's Mboweni closes curtain on central banking

By Gordon Bell

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Tito Mboweni has gone fishing.

South Africa's outspoken Reserve Bank Governor bids farewell to the bank this weekend after a decade fighting inflation in a jovial and personable style rare amongst central bankers.

Asked repeatedly what he plans to do next -- the private sector, politics and the foreign service had all been mooted -- Mboweni says the only certainty is fly-fishing, his favourite sport.

Mboweni has his critics -- the photographers who he regularly banned from press conferences and the trade unions that blame him for job losses -- but analysts point to many successes during his tenure.

Had food and oil prices not ignited inflation in 2007 and 2008, sparking interest rate hikes, and the economy not been dragged into recession by the global crisis this year, the trade unions may well have liked him too.

The former labour minister, who spent a year as an advisor at the central bank before taking over the top job, says inflation targeting and building the country's reserves from the negative position he inherited are the highlights of his 10 years in charge.

He also introduced the monetary policy committee that brought in transparency to interest rate decisions, replacing the previous format that saw decisions often relayed, unannounced, late on Friday.

"He must be credited for establishing the MPC, which has been a huge plus, the transparency has been enormously positive in signaling which way interest rates were going to go," said Colen Garrow, economist at financial service group Brait, adding the credibility of policies was never in question.