The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) elected to keep interest rates on hold, dealing a blow to those South Africans in debt.
Governor Lesetja Kganyago announced the decision at a press briefing on Thursday.
The SARB’s Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) six members were not unanimous in making the decision. Four preferred to keep them on hold, while the other two favoured a 25 basis point cut.
The move is in line with what economists and analysts had predicted ahead of the announcement, where expert thinking favoured a ‘hold’ over a ‘cut’.
However, the split in the votes shows that it was a close call as many had expected, with either outcome never truly out of the question.
The final MPC meeting of the year will take place on Thursday, 20 November.
