SA Reserve Bank: Charts Show South Africa’s Set for Higher Interest Rates

Africa’s oldest central bank celebrates its centenary Wednesday just as it started — steering South Africa through an economic crisis.

Born out of a banking crisis caused by unusual financial and monetary conditions during World War I, the South African Reserve Bank opened its doors on June 30, 1921.

Singled out by ratings companies and investors as a pillar of institutional strength in a country where graft and mismanagement of resources hollowed out government organs over the past decade, the central bank fiercely guards its independence and has diligently worked to rein in inflation.

Buffers built by the bank, in part through lowering inflation expectations, allowed it to bring in unprecedented measures to offset damage caused by Covid-19. Now, with Africa’s most-industrialized economy on track to recover from its biggest contraction in a century, its monetary policy committee is preparing to raise borrowing costs.

Policy makers cut the key interest