The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has brought some relief for consumers by cutting the country’s interest rate by 25 basis points.
Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago made the announcement on Thursday afternoon. The interest rate cut is part of an effort to boost economic growth and ease consumer burden.
Kganyago indicated that the Monetary Policy Committee did not discuss a 50 basis point cut in the repo rate but only discussed whether to cut interest rates by 25 basis points or keep the rate unchanged.
The Reserve Bank has also lowered its economic growth forecast for 2019 to 0.6% from a 1% growth forecast in May.
This is the first time the Reserve Bank has reduced the repo rate since March 2018.
