Triple blow for households in South Africa

• The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously last week (23 September) to hike interest rates in South Africa by 25 basis points.
• The decision lifted the repo rate to 7.25%, pushing the commercial banks’ prime lending rate to 10.75%—levels last witnessed in June 2025.
• Higher interest rates will only artificially constrain the only variable within monetary reach: domestic aggregate demand and borrowing appetite.