The main priority for the South African Reserve Bank is price stability in the interest of balanced and sustainable growth. Faced with this situation, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has increased the repurchase rate gradually since January 2014, by a total of 200 basis points, to the current level of 7,0 per cent.
This hiking cycle was more gradual when compared to previous hiking cycles, responding to a more uncertain and volatile policy environment which, given the weakening growth outcomes, at times required the MPC to pause and carefully evaluate incoming data to inform future monetary policy moves.