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Economist Dawie Roodt questions lowered interest rates

Johannesburg - One of South Africa’s top economists on Saturday questioned whether the lowering of interest rates by central banks was worthwhile.

Director and chief economist of the Efficient Group Dawie Roodt was speaking at the Free Market Foundation, an organisation that “promotes and fosters an open society, the rule of law, personal liberty, and economic and press freedom”.

Roodt questioned whether the central banks were pushing interest rates down on their own or following market trends.

“This means people are encouraged to invest – but we have to understand there are two worlds people live in economically. Those that are thriving and those who aren’t. We have previously seen debt levels rise and eventually form an asset bubble when rates are dropped,” he said.

Roodt added that the central bank was a relatively new concept in existence for just under a century.

“They have claimed the rights to decide what the price of money should be and manipulate the consumption of society economically,” he said.

Speaking on the political sphere of South Africa and its economic impact, Roodt criticised Cosatu saying the union has become a representative of civil servants rather than workers.

“This kind of shift can cause instability and frustration from the working class who are becoming increasingly despondent with unions.”

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