COSATU is appalled by the Reserve Bank’s decision to further impoverish workers with yet another misguided repo rate hike
27 January 2023
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is appalled by the South African Reserve Bank’s callous decision to further impoverish workers with yet another repo rate hike. A cursory reading of the National Credit Regulator’s reports attests to the fact that workers are drowning in debt. This will make it even harder for them to continue to pay their loans and put them at risk of losing their homes, cars, and other possessions that they were earned over many years.
This will make it even more difficult for workers to feed their families and threaten the sustainability of thousands of SMMEs. Workers will likely lose jobs or face wage stagnation.
The central cause of South Africa’s inflation spike is the war in Ukraine and the subsequent manipulation of international oil prices by a few opulent petroleum regimes at the expense of the rest of the world and in particular developing nations. CPI is likely to be put under further pressure from the 1st of April when NERSA’s ill-considered decision to grant Eskom an 18.65% increase may come into effect.