Economic Overview - Page 8 of 14 - Efficient Private Clients
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Economic Overview

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  • 26 July 2022

    In total, interest rates have increased by 2% during the current hiking cycle in South Africa (SA). In November 2021, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) started the hiking cycle by increasing interest rates by 0.25%. Many South Africans hoped that these types of increases would continue, especially after a similar increase was made by the SARB in January 2022. But since then, these hopes have faded. Last week, the SARB decided to increase interest rates by 0.75%, after not too long ago increasing rates by 0.50%.​​​​

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  • 19 July 2022

    In an interesting interview, the Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), Kuben Naidoo, provided some more guidance about cryptocurrency regulations in South Africa (SA). We have long since held that more regulation is necessary in the cryptocurrency environment, but more of the right type of regulation.

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  • 12 July 2022

    Until recently, the rand has remained resilient against the United States (US) dollar. But during the past couple of weeks, the pressure has simply been too much for the rand to bear, causing it to depreciate to levels around R17.00. In the past, the rand’s demise was primarily driven by bad local politics, which led to bad policies, which, ultimately, led to negative sentiment.

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  • 7 July 2022

    In June, BankservAfrica released another set of dismal monthly salary data for South Africa (SA). The Take-home Pay Index (BTPI) showed that, during the month of May, the average real monthly salary (removing the effect of inflation) in SA was only R14 696; this plummeted by 6.7% since May 2021.

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  • 28 June 2022

    Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported last week that, during the month of May, household prices increased by roughly 6.5% year-on-year. Higher inflation was partly driven by a low base effect, but more so by higher fuel prices, which have been increasing owing to the ongoing war in Ukraine as well as the sanctions imposed by the West. Fuel prices in May of this year are 32.5% higher than they were a year ago.

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  • 21 June 2022

    Even after increasing interest rates by 0.75%, the United States (US) Federal Reserve (Fed) still believes that it is possible for the central bank to achieve a soft landing in which they can tame inflation without pushing the economy into a recession. Consumers, however, seem to disagree, and this is in line with economic data showing the worst reading of consumer confidence since the 1970s

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  • 14 June 2022

    The rand has remained resilient, albeit volatile, as negative global drivers continue to clash against many positive local drivers. At one point, the rand touched R15.18 last week, before poor performing global indicators caused the rand to depreciate back to levels around R15.90.

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  • 7 June 2022

    It has been almost three decades since the African National Congress (ANC) came into power. Our job, as economists, is to interpret the economic results of their actions, or, in this case, the lack thereof. To do this, we try to determine how the decisions of the ruling party, in aggregate, impact on the economy and, by implication, on the livelihoods of South Africans.

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  • 31 May 2022

    During the first week of May, the Federal Reserve (Fed) in the United States (US) increased interest rates by 0.5%, the first time since 2000. Later, during the last week of the month, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) followed suit.

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  • 24 May 2022

    In a daring move, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) last week decided to increase interest rates by 0.5%, despite the pressure that it will undoubtedly place on South African consumers. Although 15 out of the 24 analysts that were surveyed, expected a 0.5% increase, I cannot help but wonder if it was not a little too much.

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  • 17 May 2022

    Despite the robust rally at the end of the week, all three major equity market indices in the United States (US) – the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite – posted weekly losses. In total, the Nasdaq has lost $7.6 trillion in the current decline.

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  • 10 May 2022

    We ended April anticipating the announcement from the United States (US) Federal Reserve (Fed). Because of all of the uncertainty, the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite contracted 13.3% in April, its worst monthly drop since the global financial crisis in 2008.

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