Latest bank decision: At its meeting on 7 May, the Central Bank decided to cut the target for the overnight...
SARB Repo Rate in South Africa
The South African Reserve Bank's policy rates over the last decade reflected the country's economic challenges. Initially, rates were increased to combat inflation and stabilize the Rand. However, in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 economic fallout, rates were significantly reduced to historic lows to support economic growth. By 2022, as the economy began recovering and inflationary pressures emerged, the central bank started increasing rates, before mild monetary easing in 2024.
The sarb repo rate ended 2024 at 7.75%, compared to the end-2023 value of 8.25% and the figure a decade earlier of 5.75%. It averaged 6.30% over the last decade. For more interest rate information, visit our dedicated page.
South Africa Interest Rate Chart
Note: This chart displays Policy Interest Rate (%) for South Africa from 2014 to 2025.
Source: Macrobond.
South Africa Interest Rate Data
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SARB Repo Rate (%, eop) | 3.75 | 7.00 | 8.25 | 7.75 | 6.75 |
| 3-Month JIBAR (%, eop) | 3.85 | 6.50 | 8.43 | 7.71 | 6.84 |
| 10-Year Bond Yield (%, eop) | 9.82 | 11.30 | 11.33 | 10.32 | 9.03 |
South African Reserve Bank holds fire in March as expected
SARB extends loosening cycle pause: At its meeting on 26 March, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) kept its repo rate at 6.75%. The hold was unanimous and had been priced in by markets.
Supply shock from Middle East war calls for caution: The hold was driven by the uncertainty and deterioration of the inflation outlook caused by the Iran war. The conflict has disrupted shipping and pushed up prices for oil, gas and fertilizer, in turn leading the SARB to hike its headline and core inflation forecasts for both 2026 and 2027. The SARB expects inflation to rise in the near term on higher fuel inflation, and deems inflation risks to be skewed to the upside. Regarding economic growth, the Bank kept its domestic GDP growth projections unchanged, although it noted the war could lead to downgrades ahead.
Fewer cuts on the table for this year: The SARB provided no explicit forward guidance. However, the Bank’s forecasts for its end-2026 repo rate level were more hawkish than at its last meeting in January: The SARB now sees its repo rate ending the year just below 6.50%—in January it forecasted the repo rate to end 2026 at just above 6.25%—largely in line with our Consensus. The SARB will reconvene on 28 May.
Consensus Forecasts and Projections for the next ten years
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects South African interest rate projections for the next ten years from a panel of 15 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable interest rate forecast available for South African interest rate.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our South African interest rate projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of South African interest rate forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.
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