Out-going governor of the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) Tito Mboweni said he felt "good" after delivering the rates decision of the Monetary Policy Committee for the last time on Thursday.

Mboweni (50) will leave the SARB next month after a decade as governor, declining an offer from President Jacob Zuma to serve a third term.

"In many ways I feel relaxed," he told a media briefing in Pretoria.

"I won't have to have meetings with difficult deputy governors — they may look humble and gentle but they are most difficult in meetings," quipped Mboweni, dressed in a dark grey suit, blue shirt and red silk tie.

He said he also would not have to be concerned about who would be the next Chief Treasury Officer and he would not have to worry about the SARB's reserves.

"I've had a good innings here. I've enjoyed it very much. It's time to move on and I'm looking forward to retirement," the outgoing governor said.

Mboweni told journalists: "I'm going to miss some of you. Some of our press conferences were good and others were a total disaster."

He confided that in the beginning of his first term as governor he used to feel "a bit nervous" about media briefings.

"I use to worry how my voice was projecting. I used to fiddle with my statement... but all that is over."

Ever controversial, Mboweni ended the briefing by saying: "Soon you'll see me in surprising places."

The governor's last years at the bank have been characterised by clashes with the ANC's alliance partner the Congress of SA Trade Unions — mainly over interest rate hikes — threatening the SARB's independence.

Gill Marcus (60) a former deputy central bank governor and previously the head of Absa, will take over as SARB governor on 9 November.

Mboweni will undergo a "cooling off period" of six to 12 months in which, by agreement with the SARB, he cannot be employed.

Sapa

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