Newsletter: Interest Rates, News and Fake News | 17 January 2021

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Dear Clients

Interest Rates, News and Fake News

So last week, the Governor of our Reserve Bank, Lesetja Kganyago, surprised the great majority of the countries Economists by decreasing interest rates. While the decrease was nominal at 0.25%, the impact on our country’s battered fortunes was great. The Reserve Bank and the judiciary are the only two remaining strongholds between South Africa and a Banana Republic.

The steadfastness and bravery of our Constitutional Court, our High Courts and their dedicated judges are well documented. Lesetja Kganyago’s steadfastness and bravery is less well-known but equally important. Despite a spirited act from a Public Protector that we can only assume to be captured, Kganyago has stood firm. In other African countries, so called Presidents (more appropriately, dictators) have tended to attack their Reserve Banks first. In our case the predators attacked state owned enterprises because they appeared to be easier targets and because, in other African countries, state-owned enterprises did not have the same quantum of assets or level of revenue.

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