Kaya 959 Reporter
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is expected to raise the repo rate this week, with most experts and economists agreeing that the increase will be greater than in prior meetings.
The MPC will convene for the first time on May 17th, with a decision likely on Thursday (19 May).
On Monday the reserve bank called for an emergency meeting to confirm that they had put Ubank (formerly known as Teba Bank) under curatorship.
The bank mainly serves mine workers as well as their families and also offers support to small and medium-sized businesses.
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Kaya Biz with Gugulethu Mfuphi spoke to Azaia Mhlanga Chief Economist at Alexander Forbes about the developments at the South African Reserve Bank.
LISTEN TO THE FULL CONVERSATION HERE:
Mhlanga says the positive thing about inflation in South Africa is that we don’t have demand-pull inflation.
“I think if we look at the dynamics of the South African inflation they are slightly different to what we see in the likes of the United States, Europe and also in the UK in the sense that ours doesn’t have demand-pull inflation.
“If you look at the difference between core inflation which includes things such food, beverages, energy and fuel. In South Africa, it is much lower compared to headline inflation which is the all encompasses inflation,” says Mhlanga.
According to the latest SARB Repo Rate Forecast Report from Finder.com the increase is expected to go up to a 50 basis point hike.
Multiple economists have all predicted that com Thursday there’ll be a massive interest rate hike.
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