The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has kept the repo rate unchanged at 8.25%.

Today’s announcement by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that the repo rate would remain unchanged at 8.25% - meaning that the prime rate holds steady at 11.75% - was disappointing for consumers with significant borrowings, including those with existing mortgages as well as first-time home buyers, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

After four, consecutive interest rate increases, there was scant hope that the MPC’s latest announcement would hold good news for homeowners.

According to Yael Geffen, CEO of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty, the decision by the South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to raise the repo rate by 25 basis points to 4% is not unexpected.

Comment from Carl Coetzee, CEO of BetterBond, on today's repo rate increase:

There was room for a pause in the upward repo rate cycle, says Dr Andrew Golding.

The SARB’s Monetary Policy Committee is set to increase the repo rate this week, according to Finder.com’s SARB Repo Rate Forecast Report. 

The SARB Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 3.5% in a unanimous decision.

Given the vulnerability of South Africa’s economy in the wake of last week’s unrest, as anticipated, the Monetary Policy Committee adopted an accommodative approach by deciding to keep the repo rate steady at 3.5%, which leaves the prime rate at 7%, says Dr Andrew Golding, chief executive of the Pam Golding Property group.

Today’s announcement to hold the repo rate steady at 3.5% marks a full year that South Africans have been able to make the most of a historic low lending environment, says Carl Coetzee, CEO of BetterBond.