Business Reports sets outs Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni’s reasons for the latest 0.5 percentage point rise in the repo rate to 8 percent.

he cited many of them, including the oil price, which averaged $74 a barrel in July, CPIX (consumer price index less mortgage rates) inflation at 4.8 percent in June and the producer price index rising 7.5 percent.

There are other concerns. The R103.1 billion current account deficit in the first quarter is equal to 6.4 percent of gross domestic product. The household debt to income ratio hit a record high of 68 percent in the first quarter.

Credit extension to the private sector rose more than 25 percent over the 12 months to June, up from 24 percent in May. And the broad monetary aggregate, the M3, grew more slowly than in the previous month, but was still a high 23 percent, while asset-backed credit growth has been at around 27 percent since February.”