THE South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to hike interest rates by 75 basis points, taking the repo rate to 5.50% per annum.
Three members voted for the announced rate, one member favoured a 50-basis point hike, and one member favoured a 100-basis point hike.
The rate hike shocked on the upside compared to many forecasts by economists and analysts this week, where the expected hike was pegged at 50 basis points.
The median expectation of economists in a Bloomberg survey was that the five-member monetary policy committee would vote three in favor of a second consecutive half-point hike, and two for a 75-basis-point increase.
A separate poll showed that 13 of 20 analysts predicted that the MPC would raise the key rate by half a point, with the rest expecting a bigger increase.
According to Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago, the sizeable hike is due
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