The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) urges the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to cut the repo rate to provide breathing space to millions of workers battling to cope with the rising costs of living. 

The SARB needs to seize the opportunity of an inflation rate that has fallen for the past two months and at 3.3% is well within the approved inflation target range of 3% to 6% and exploit Thursday’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting to slash the repo rate by at least 50 basis points.

Workers are literally under siege from electricity and fuel price hikes far above inflation.  Their wages have not kept pace with these increases.  Workers are supporting relatives who cannot find jobs in an economy stumbling along on average 1% annual growth and with 42.9% unemployment.  The National Credit Regulator’s debt reports shine a deeply worrying spotlight on workers’ dangerously high levels of indebtedness. 

A bold and progressive repo rate cut will ease workers’ debt burdens, help them to take care of their families and pay their debts, and inject badly needed stimulus into an economy suffocating from high lending rates. 

The Federation hopes the SARB will not disappoint workers when it meets tomorrow.  It needs to act on the side of workers and provide badly needed comfort for a nation that has seen its share of negative headwinds.

COSATU will continue to engage with the SARB on this burning matter for the working class.

Issued by COSATU

Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)

Mobile: 082 785 0687

Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za