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By Anita Dangazele
- The Reserve Bank will announce its next interest rate decision on 23 September, with some analysts expecting a close call.
- The bank held rates in July on a split 4-2 vote, and inflation has since risen above its target.
In less than two weeks, the Reserve Bank will make a big decision. That decision will affect anyone paying off a home loan, a car, or a store account.
The Reserve Bank sets something called the interest rate. When it goes up, banks charge you more to borrow money, so your monthly payments go up too. When it stays the same or goes down, your payments stay the same or get smaller.
The last time the bank met, in July, it decided to leave the rate as it was. But it wasn’t an easy decision. Four people on the committee wanted to leave it the same. Two wanted to raise it. That’s a close vote, and it means it wouldn’t take much for the bank to decide differently this time.
Since July, prices have been going up faster than expected. Fuel got more expensive in September, and it could get even more expensive in October. When fuel costs more, almost everything else costs more too, because it costs more to move goods around the country. This puts pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise the interest rate, to try to slow down rising prices.
But there’s also a good reason for the bank to leave things as they are. South Africa’s economy actually got smaller in the last few months, for the first time in almost two years. If the bank raises the rate now, it could make things even harder for businesses and workers. So really, either outcome is possible.
We’ll know for sure on 23 September, when the Reserve Bank makes its announcement.
Pictured above: The South African Reserve Bank will hand down its next interest rate decision on 23 September.
Image source: Pexels
