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While a higher inflation rate may otherwise inspire increased hawkishness in the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee — which meets this week — analysts expect that the repo rate will be kept on hold again. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
BUREAU FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Reserve Bank will stay tough, even as inflation softens

Borrowers face another 75 basis point repo rate hike this week, as inflation looks to stay uncomfortably high

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
Photo: Laird Forbes/Gallo Images
ANDREW GOLDING

Unemployment and interest rate hikes predicted to hit property market

The volume of new mortgage applications reached multi-year highs amid record low interest rates

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
Economists widely expect the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee to once again hold the interest rate at 8.25% when it concludes its meeting on Thursday.
COVID 19

Reserve Bank lifts rates again as high inflation takes its toll

The monetary policy committee has voted to lift the repo rate by another 25 basis points as advanced economies mull policy tightening

  • Sarah Smit
4 min read
Annual consumer inflation was unchanged at 3.2% in February at 3.2%, with increases registered in housing and utilities, food and alcoholic beverages and restaurants and accommodation offset by decreases in the services sector, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. (Guillem Sartorio/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
BUREAU FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Inflation accelerates to highest rate since 2017

Elevated inflation has become a stubborn feature of the global economy’s recovery from the Covid-19 slump and central banks have been forced to react

  • Sarah Smit
2 min read
Economists widely expect the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee to once again hold the interest rate at 8.25% when it concludes its meeting on Thursday.
ALEXANDER FORBES

‘A cruel slap’: Reserve Bank weighs inflation risks as the economy struggles

Critics have said the repo rate hike will jeopardise already sluggish economic growth, but others say the gradual increase will have little effect

  • Sarah Smit
9 min read
South African Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago. Photo: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg/Getty Images
BANK OF ENGLAND

Reserve Bank green-lights interest rate lift-off

The decision to hike the repo rate by 25 basis points comes in the wake of red-hot inflation in advanced economies and fears policymakers will start to dial back on accommodative…

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
The US Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee has broken its 14-month policy pause with a significant 50 basis point cut to the federal funds rate. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
ANNABEL BISHOP

If the inflation-driving supply strain in the US lasts, it could put South Africa in a chokehold

In South Africa, a strong trade surplus, buoyed by robust commodity prices, will cushion our economy against pressure arising from US policy

  • Sarah Smit
7 min read