Three reasons the SARB may pause its interest rate hiking cycle in January
Members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) meet from 15 to 17 January to decide a suitable interest rate stance that sees inflation settle in the middle of the 3% – 6% target range. The 25 basis points (bps) increase in November last year brought the repo rate and prime lending rates to 6.75% and 10.25%, respectively. As the first increase since March 2016, the SARB signalled the beginning of an interest rate hiking cycle that could entail another three increases of 25 bps before end-2020.