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Repo Rate Remains Stable

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)of the SA Reserve Bank have met and considered the many factors weighing on the economy and the Reserve Bank Governor has announced that the interest rate will remain stable at 7%.

This is consistent with both predictions and the recent pause in rate escalation that we have seen over the last few MPC announcements. This means that those consumers who have borrowed money at an interest rate linked to Prime will see there repayments remain the same. For those under debt review with repayments at linked rates will enjoy the same benefit.

 Some Minor Positive Economic Factors

Some of the factors influencing the decision by the MPC were slightly revised economic growth figures (it went up by 0.4%) , a slight reduction in inflation predictions as well as the recent strengthening of the Rand despite some recent political instability.

Mention was made that the Rand is susceptible to change and the US situation will soon shift based on elections etc as well as other factors that look set to reverse any gains of the Rand and local economy. Experts say this means that we are looking at future hikes to the rate, at least one more this year. For now though the Repo Rate stands at 7.0%, with the Prime lending rate steady at 10.5%.