The South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has elected to keep interest rates on hold after meeting for the second time in 2024 on Wednesday, 27 March.
The MPC meets every second month.
That decision means the repo rate will remain at 8.25% while the current prime lending rate stays at 11.75%.
It was the fifth consecutive meeting that the interest rates have remained on hold.
Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago confirmed that the vote was unanimous among the five-member committee.
The five-person committee will expand to six when Mampho Modise takes over as Deputy Governor next week.
While it’s ‘good’ news for those who were fearful of an unwanted hike, it represents bad news for those desperately seeking a cut.
Any cut has now been pushed back to May, July – or later in 2024.
Kganyago recently told Bloomberg that the SARB won’t succumb to election pressures as the country prepares to vote in the general elections on Wednesday, 29 May 2024.
The South African website will publish the outcome of this week’s SARB announcement as soon as it’s announced at around 15:00.
SARB MPC MEETING DATES FOR 2024
| Month | Date |
| January | 25 January |
| March | 27 March |
| May | 30 May |
| July | 18 July |
| September | 19 September |
| November | 21 November |
Reminder of monthly bond repayments
The table below shows the current monthly bond repayments on various bond values assuming no deposit and that repayments are at prime (11.75%):
| Bond value (20 years) | Monthly cost |
| R750 000 | R8 128 |
| R800 000 | R8 670 |
| R850 000 | R9 212 |
| R900 000 | R9 753 |
| R950 000 | R10 295 |
| R1 000 000 | R10 837 |
| R1 500 000 | R16 256 |
| R2 000 000 | R21 674 |
| R2 500 000 | R27 093 |
| R3 000 000 | R32 511 |
| R3 500 000 | R37 930 |
| R4 000 000 | R43 348 |
| R4 500 000 | R48 767 |
| R5 000 000 | R54 185 |