MIKE METELITS, Johannesburg | Thursday 3.00pm.
A NEW twist in the Reserve Bank’s repo system of lending short-term money to banks emerged Wednesday, as the Bank overestimated market liquidity demands by about R300-million, offering R7,1-billion while tendering banks only took up R6,8-billion.
This shortfall indicates that liquidity conditions in the market are easing, making banks less dependent on the Reserve Bank for daily cash flow. This easing of the liquidity market in turn brings the repo rate, and perhaps eventually other rates, down, since banks are not desperately bidding for the liquidity (cash) offered by the Reserve Bank at the daily tender.
It is possible that one or more private banks underestimated liquidity needs, generating the shortfall, and will have to make up the deficit Thursday. The repo rate has been falling slowly for 11 straight days, as the Reserve Bank pumps liquidity into the economy.