1.     INTRODUCTION: There are many buzzwords in today’s world. One of the most recognisable ones in the economic vocabulary is globalisation. Many people define themselves as being either for or against globalisation. My own view is that: "good luck" to those who want to demonstrate against globalisation. I would rather people spent time on how they can maximise the benefits of globalisation.But today our discussion is about the role of the Reserve Bank in economic integration of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which obviously has to be placed within the context of globalisation. Some people blame globalisation for many of the problems confronting the world today, ranging from widening income disparities in the industrialised world to financial crises in emerging markets. But even some of the most vociferous critics acknowledge that globalisation can be a powerful and positive force for generating wealth and reducing poverty, as rising trade volumes create opportunities for entrepreneurs, and developing countries may gain greater access to capital from the rich countries of the world. Globalisation seems to be encouraging economic regionalisation as many big and small economies establish economic blocs to maximise their collective competitive advantage. The advantages of regional economic integration are well known, but it is worth pausing, for the purposes of this discussion, to mention but a few. Among others, economic integration enables entrepreneurs to take up new business opportunities by cutting red tape and facilitating the flow of transactions. Integration with neighbouring countries can produce economies of scale when competing with other regions in the world, and can be one of the ways that countries ensure that the best use is made of the resources, capabilities and abilities within their region.Economic integration means that individual nations are becoming less important internationally as regional groupings gain in significance, especially when it comes to investment and trade in goods and services. To name a few examples, regional free trade initiatives have either been implemented or are in the process of being implemented in North, Central and South America, East Asia and in the European Union, where full financial integration is not far off. Africa also has a number of economic co-operation initiatives, including the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which has 14 member states.The SADC member states are: South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Seychelles.The forerunner of the SADC was a regional grouping of nine Southern African states which started working together in 1980 with a view to reducing their economic dependence on the then apartheid ruled South Africa. Over time, more members joined and by the time South Africa entered the fold after the democratic elections of 1994, the aim of the regional grouping was to work towards economic integration.Whilst it is factually correct that South Africa is the largest economy in our region, accounting for some 65% of the region’s gross domestic product in dollar terms, we are, however, on a per capita basis, the third best off — behind Mauritius and Botswana. Mauritius has a GDP per capita of more than $3 500 while South Africa’s is less than $3 000. In the rich countries of the world, per capita incomes are about eight times as high as they are in the richest countries of this subregion of Africa.As part of the process of promoting regional economic integration, each SADC member country was allocated an economic sector to co-ordinate, based on the country’s actual or potential capacity. South Africa has been allocated responsibility for the co-ordination of the finance and investment sector of the SADC. The co-ordination of the sector is led by the Minister of Finance of South Africa. The finance and investment sector was given to South African in recognition of its developed financial markets and in