Tag: repo rate

The Covid-19 crisis has brought much of the world economy to a sudden stop. Millions upon millions of people are in lockdown across the world, preventing them from working, buying, producing and selling goods and services. Global and local supply chains are interrupted, and small and large companies see a collapse in income. Households are under similar pressure.

The Bureau of Economic Research released the Business Confidence Index (BCI) for third quarter of 2019. The index plummeted to a 20 year low of 21 index points. The BCI remained unchanged between the first and second quarter of 2019, before weakening in the third quarter. The BCI has trailed below the 50 neutral mark (a value above 50 signals optimism and pessimism is indicated when the value dips below 50) for the 19th consecutive quarter.

The prescribed rate of interest has been changed with effect from 1 May 2018 to 10% per annum. The previous rate was 10.25%.

Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) reported on 24 January that consumer price inflation increased from 4.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) in November 2017 to 4.7% y-o-y in December. This resulted in full-year inflation declining to 5.3% last year from a mean of 6.4% in 2016. The latest inflation number is the ninth consecutive monthly reading falling within the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) target range (3%-6%).