{"id":96075,"date":"2026-02-19T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:11:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:11:42","slug":"sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain","title":{"rendered":"SARB MPC&#8217;s Next Policy Rate Decision Uncertain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Stats SA said the year got off to a slightly better start with prices after annual headline inflation dropped to 3.5%.<\/p>\n<p>Some economists believe the next policy rate decision by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB)\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will not be cut and dry, despite a marginal drop in the January inflation print.<\/p>\n<p>Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said the year got off to a slightly better start with prices after annual headline inflation dropped to 3.5%.<\/p>\n<p>The reading was 3.6% in December.<\/p>\n<p>Economists at FNB believe headline inflation will ease further in February, to around 3.2%, supported by fuel price cuts.<\/p>\n<p>But even if headline inflation remains contained and close to the central bank\u2019s 3% target, FNB senior economist Koketso Mano said there\u2019s more at play, especially after the SARB\u2019s caution in the January MPC meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, we think that when you look at inflation and the projections around inflation, especially by analysts and, you know, market participants, you will generally get the sense that there is still space to cut interest rates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think where the Reserve Bank may be a little bit more cautious is around overall economy-wide expectations around inflation, and then still trying to entrench that in the system is something that might keep monetary policy conservative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Portfolio manager at Ninety-One Chris Steward said a 25-basis point cut could be on the cards as early as the March meeting, despite signals that rates would only be lowered later in 2026.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. Stats SA said the year got off to a slightly better start with prices after annual headline inflation dropped to 3.5%. Some economists believe the next policy rate decision by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB)\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will not be cut and dry, despite a marginal drop in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-96075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SARB MPC&#039;s Next Policy Rate Decision Uncertain - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stats SA said the year got off to a slightly better start with prices after annual headline inflation dropped to 3.5%. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SARB MPC&#039;s Next Policy Rate Decision Uncertain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stats SA said the year got off to a slightly better start with prices after annual headline inflation dropped to 3.5%. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-19T11:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-19T11:11:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1771486881.946906.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"795\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"438\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"SARB MPC&#8217;s Next Policy Rate Decision Uncertain\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-19T11:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-19T11:11:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain\"},\"wordCount\":265,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1771486881.946906.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sarb-mpcs-next-policy-rate-decision-uncertain\",\"name\":\"SARB MPC's Next Policy Rate Decision Uncertain - 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