Households remain under high interest rates chokehold

South Africa’s high interest rates continue to pressurise the finances of households amid the ongoing restrictive monetary policy stance by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). The latest Altron FinTech Household Resilience Index (AFHRI) shows that, over the past two years, the country’s benchmark prime lending rate has been raised consistently to almost 12% – the highest level in 14 years.