Mahlangu described it as a sign of independent thinking and a potential catalyst for boosting intra-African trade.<\/p>\n
The SARB\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced on Thursday that the repo rate would be lowered to 7%, with the prime lending rate dropping to 10.5%. The move comes amid mounting global economic uncertainty, including the looming implementation of punitive United States (US) tariffs on SA exports from August.<\/p>\n
Mahlangu commended the central bank for not merely mirroring the decisions of the US Federal Reserve. \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging to see SARB responding to domestic conditions rather than simply copying global trends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that the rate cut could also help offset the economic impact of reduced trade with the US by providing breathing room to shift exports toward African markets. \u201cAn export diversification strategy hinges on two things: expanding into new markets and diversifying the product or service offering,\u201d Mahlangu explained.<\/p>\n
He said the African Continental Free Trade Area presents a unique opportunity for SA to redirect trade flows away from the US and deepen its economic footprint on the continent. \u201cIf you look at the quality of SA products, they would make a lot of sense for African markets. The Free Trade Area becomes a vehicle to get SA exports into Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSA is already trading with countries like Mozambique and Nigeria, but more can be done,\u201d he added. \u201cThe surplus that may result from a decline in US trade can be re-routed into the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n
–SABC\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12867,"template":"default||default","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-12866","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Political Economist Bongani Mahlangu has welcomed the South African (SA) Reserve Bank\u2019s (SARB) latest decision to reduce interest rates by 25 basis points.||Political Economist Bongani Mahlangu has welcomed the South African (SA) Reserve Bank\u2019s (SARB) latest decision to reduce interest rates by 25 basis points.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Political Economist Bongani Mahlangu has welcomed the South African (SA) Reserve Bank\u2019s (SARB) latest decision to reduce interest rates by 25 basis points.||Political Economist Bongani Mahlangu has welcomed the South African (SA) Reserve Bank\u2019s (SARB) latest decision to reduce interest rates by 25 basis points.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18260,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12866\/revisions\/18260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=12866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}