Crisis pits rate cuts against rand support

Johannesburg: Rand weakness and concern about the strength of the global economy have sparked a debate among economists about the role of high interest rates to support the currency.

The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) will meet next week to decide by how much to cut the official repo rate, following the cut last month of half a percentage point to 11.5 percent.

Festive spending wilts as fear of future bites

Cape Town – Consumers cut discretionary Christmas purchases and many chose to stay at home over the festive season as they braced themselves for a tough year, retailers and analysts have said.

While falling fuel prices and interest rates will put more money in consumers’ pockets this year, the spectre of retrenchments is expected to scare consumers away from returning to the free spending of the retail boom years.

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SA house prices will recover before US – Re/Max

Cape Town – South African housing prices could fall further over the next six months, but are likely to recover before those in the US, according to Peter Gilmour, a senior executive at US-based Re/Max International.

Gilmour expected local prices to stabilise in the second half, but said a “steady” improvement would take place only next year as banks became inclined to lend again.

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