The Bank acquiesced in gradual increases in money market liquidity, and also in the declines of market interest rates such as the yield on long-term government bonds and Treasury bills, and on bankers’ acceptances and negotiable certificates of deposit. The Reserve Bank endorsed the easier monetary conditions by reducing the Bank rate from 17 to 16 per cent on 20 October 1997. 4.
Recent developments in the monetary situation Since the last week of October, turmoil in the currency and capital markets overflowed the cauldron of certain overheated East Asian economies and disrupted also the South African financial tranquillity.