FRIDAY, 10AM:
RESERVE Bank governor Chris Stals said on Friday that the recent market shake-up has helped curb bank credit extension, making it easier to bring rates down — and he hinted that this would happen before the March budget, perhaps even before the end of the year.
He told a conference in Cape Town: “Say for example if a month from now we find bank credit extension is really falling down, if the money supply has been declining and there is not a big demand for credit, then sure we should move it (the bank rate).”
A decision would depend on the month-end bank credit extension and money supply figures, inflation, the producer price index, the consumer price index and the level of foreign reserves.
Stals said the rand’s performance against a weighted basket of foreign currencies during the market upheavals had been satisfactory, and it had to be noted that the dollar was fluctuating against many other currencies as well. “The rand against the dollar is just one exchange rate, which is changing … My view is that the average value of the rand remains relatively stable.” Reserve Bank site