July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said "rigid" inflation targeting by central banks was partly to blame for the global financial crisis, Business Day reported.

Central banks failed to ensure financial stability and economic growth by focusing too much on low inflation, the Johannesburg-based newspaper cited him as saying yesterday. Stiglitz was in South Africa to deliver a lecture at Wits University, it said.

The South African Communist Party and labor unions in the country are opposed to the domestic central bank's policy of inflation targeting, the newspaper said.

Last Updated: July 9, 2009 00:53 EDT