RATES KEPT ON HOLD IN TIGHT VOTE
After having reduced the repo rate at the previous five Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings, the SA Reserve Bank decided to keep its key lending rate unchanged on Thursday, at 3.5% after a 3-2 vote.
The decision came after a massive second-quarter GDP contraction, lower inflation figures, high unemployment, and reduced economic and business activity.
On September 8, Stats SA released its second-quarter growth in GDP figures, which showed a contraction by 51% on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted and annualised rate, extending South Africa’s technical recession to four consecutive quarters
