Consumers with debt are likely breathing a collective sigh of relief at the news that the interest rate is finally going down by 25 basis points.
Listen to this article 4 min Listen to this article 4 min The rate cut takes the repo rate to 8% which means the base home loan rate should reduce to 11.5%. Samuel Seeff, chairman of the Seeff Property Group, says he hopes this is the first of more rate cuts to follow.
The rate cut in South Africa was widely expected given that the US Fed cut its rate by 50bps and plans two further rate cuts of 25bps each. This follows recent cuts by the Bank of England, and two cuts by the European Central Bank.
"We heard this week that inflation has declined further to 4.4% which is now within the bank's target range. The rand has continued to strengthen and dipped below R17.50 to the US dollar this morning, from a high of R19.2 in late April. The falling oil price and pending petrol price cut should bring further relief to consumers," Seeff says.
Unaudited data from the Central Energy Fund points to a fifth consecutive decrease in fuel costs in October. According to the data, the anticipated decreases will be as follows:
Unleaded petrol (93) - R1.18 a litreUnleaded petrol (95) - R1.26 a litreDiesel...
