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Experts react over interest rate decision - As it happened

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SARB governor Lesetja Kganyago.
SARB governor Lesetja Kganyago.
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26 Mar 2015

Economist Mike Schussler told SABC 3: Apart from electricity increases, water tariffs going up. Typical household in suburban Johannesburg pays at least R3 000 on rates.

26 Mar 2015

Alex Smith FNB economist told SABC 3: Workers are demanding wage increases as they need it to survive. If we can actually curb living expense increases, then one could bring it to the wage negotiation table.

26 Mar 2015

Alex Smith FNB economist told SABC 3: Fuel tax now accounts for about 40% of cost at the fuel pump. So significant burden on the consumer.

26 Mar 2015

Economist Mike Schussler told SABC 3: Household sector is really struggling with things we don't really think of. For example, now there is a toll road in Gauteng, people now have cell phone expenses, so ultimately people have moved their style of life to reflect all of this.

26 Mar 2015

Economist Mike Schussler told SABC 3: The last decade, really only one or two years SA had wage growth below inflation.

26 Mar 2015

Golding: Power shortages, coupled with steep annual increases in energy costs are placing rising pressure on consumer spend and business confidence in general. If this request is granted, it will boost inflation. At the same time, higher individual tax rates and ever-increasing municipal tariffs and property rates are set to place housing disposable income under further pressure.

26 Mar 2015

The Monetary Policy Committee decision to hold the repo rate steady is positive news for homeowners with mortgages and aspirational home buyers, particularly as the impact of increased fuel costs and in particular the significant hike in the fuel levy, are weighing in, not to mention the potential ripple effect across the economy of a proposed whopping 25 percent increase in electricity tariffs, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

26 Mar 2015

Seeff: An interest rate hike right now would have been very difficult given that the economy is facing pressure, not least of which, the current electricity crisis. While we are aware that the interest rate is artificially low and that an adjustment is needed in light of the necessity for fiscal consolidation, the current economic state simply does not warrant a hike despite the pressure on the rand.

26 Mar 2015

Seeff: While not unexpected in light of the recent announcement that the inflation rate hit a low of 3.9% (down from 4.4% in January and around 6% late last year), the MPC decision is nonetheless welcome in light of the current economic challenges.

26 Mar 2015

Seeff chairperson Samuel Seeff has welcomed the decision by the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to retain the repo rate at 5.75% (base home loan rate of 9.25%).

26 Mar 2015

Economist Mike Schussler told SABC 3: SA is dependent on short term financial flows and when interest rates start rising in US, commodity prices will be impacted. Ultimately the people investing in SA is because of our emerging market stock exchange and some of that money will move out of the country and rand will then in all likelihood fall against the dollar.

26 Mar 2015

Alex Smith FNB economist told SABC 3: Prospect of interest rate cuts is off the table. Simply question of when it will go up again.

26 Mar 2015

Alex Smith FNB economist told SABC 3: Inflation is likely to be quite high next year.

26 Mar 2015

Regional Director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, Adrian Goslett, says that the decision to keep the rates unchanged will be welcomed news for consumers who are already dealing with ongoing rolling blackouts and the increasing cost of living. He notes that although consumers enjoyed fuel price cuts during the first three months of this year, the fuel price will once again be increased, placing further financial pressure on cash-strapped households.

26 Mar 2015

Economist Mike Schussler told SABC 3: Not having major strikes so far this year also impacted. But we have other constraints like electricity.

26 Mar 2015

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: The deterioration in the outlook suggests that this scope has narrowed. However, given the uncertainties related to US policy normalisation and the weak state of the domestic economy, the MPC has unanimously decided to keep the repurchase rate unchanged for now.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: The timing of future interest rate increases will be dependent, as before, on a range of domestic and external factors. The MPC will remain vigilant and will not hesitate to act in order to maintain the integrity of the inflation targeting framework.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: MPC will not hesitate to act in future.

26 Mar 2015

Download the full speech in PDF format

26 Mar 2015

South African Reserve Bank leaves Repo rate unchanged at 5.75%

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: MPC noted previously that the more favourable inflation path allowed some room to pause.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Rand exchange rate continues to remain vulnerable to the US monetary policy.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Main drivers of deterioration of inflation forecast is extraneous.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Spot price of maize has increased by about 30% since the beginning of the year. Meat prices have also remained elevated.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Severe drought in some of the maize areas of the countries. SA expected to become a net importer of maize during the year.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Public sector wage settlement is still not agreed and the outcome is expected to impact the economy in 2015.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Wage settlements have the potential to put further upside pressure on inflation.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Growth across all main categories of credit extension to households have remained subdued over past few months.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Fiscal policy is set to continue on its consolidation path.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Confidence of retailers, particularly of durable goods, remain relatively high.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Both retail and wholesale trade sales declined on a month to month basis in January and the outlook remains uncertain.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Employment growth has stagnated and is likely to remain low.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Business confidence declined to below the neutral level in first quarter of 2015, with decline most marked in manufacturing sector. Building sector also declined.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Main contribution to fixed capital formation came from government. With business confidence subdued, prospects for a meaningful acceleration remain weak.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Sarb growth forecast for 2015 is 2.2% and 2.3% for 2016.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Electricity supply constraint is likely to persist for some time and resulted in downward expectation for output.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: The wide trade deficit in January suggests the adjustment will remain slow.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: At this stage it is unclear whether or not there is a beginning of sustained compression of the current account or not.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Rand expected to remain volatile.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Since the previous MPC meeting the rand weakened about 2% against the US dollar.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: While the US prepares to tighten monetary policy, the global trend has been to easing.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Uncertainty persists on the timing of the expected interest rate increase in the US.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Favourable labour market data in the US resulted in strong appreciation of the US dollar.

26 Mar 2015

Kganyago: Both Russia and Brazil expected to record negative growth rates in 2015.
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