Interest rate hike TODAY for suffering South Africans

Those South Africans in debt are set to face further pain later TODAY with interest rates widely expected to be hiked.

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Experts were betting on a quarter-point (25 basis point) increase in the repurchase rate, but it now appears an even bigger 50-basis point move is on the cards on Thursday, 25 May when the monetary policy committee gives its next decision.

Ouch!

Worse still, there may be even more rate hikes to follow in the second half of 2023.

Double ouch!

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Thanks to continued high inflation and a dramatic weakening of the rand in recent days and weeks, an rate increase is now a certainty rather than a possibility.

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Interest rates have been hiked 425 basis points since November 2021

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The central bank has delivered 425 basis points of tightening since November 2021, with March’s bigger-than-expected 50 basis-point move surprising financial markets.

The MPC believes it has taken the right decisions to guide price growth back to the midpoint of its target range, “but this cannot preclude further steps if inflation and inflation expectations continue to surprise higher,” Governor Lesetja Kganyago said recently.

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