High food, power & fuel prices continue to pose risk for people with average salaries - Kganyago
A YouTube screengrab of SA Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago delivering the Monetary Policy Committee’s January statement on 25 January 2024.
JOHANNESBURG - While the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has kept the repo rate unchanged once again, consumers continue to feel the impact of the high interest rates.
The central bank's monetary policy committee left the rate at 8.25% for the fourth time since May last year.
This is the highest the repo rate has been in the country since 2008, when a global recession had a severe impact on the economy.
Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said that while recent CPI figures were within the bank's target of between three and six percent, inflation remained unpredictable.
Kganyago said that the committee would not decrease interest rates until there was complete confidence of inflation stabilising.
"Recent increases in egg and potato prices remind us that domestic food price inflation remains unpredictable and high. Electricity prices and logistics constraints continue to present clear inflation risks."
Kganyago said that with food, electricity and fuel prices remaining high, this continued to pose a risk for people with average salaries.