South African Reserve Bank Expected To Hold Interest Rates Steady, Says Economist Dawie Roodt

The South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it announces its decision on Thursday afternoon.

Chief Economist at Efficient Group, Dawie Roodt, believes the central bank will not move on rates just yet, even though inflation has continued to ease.

In July, the MPC reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7%, bringing the prime lending rate down to 10.5%.

Inflation Slows but Rate Cut Delayed

The upcoming decision comes after new figures from Statistics South Africa revealed that consumer inflation slowed from 3.5% in July to 3.3% in August 2025.

Despite this decline, Roodt does not anticipate an immediate rate cut. “Everything points to a further reduction in interest rates, however, probably not yet.

“The Reserve Bank does have room to cut rates a little bit further, but we also know that Lesetja Kganyago is quite a hawk and he wants to manage inflation expectations down to 3%,” he explained.

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Roodt expects the central bank to wait until November before making any additional moves. “I don’t believe there is room for a rate cut, but knowing the Governor of the Reserve Bank, he will wait another two months before touching rates again,” he added.

If this prediction holds true, South Africans may only see a final rate adjustment at the MPC’s last scheduled meeting of the year.

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