Prime Interest Rate History in South Africa

32 Comments For This Post

1. Alan Ryan Says:
   February 20th, 2009 at 7:07 am

   I need to find out what Standard Banks’ Prime Interest Rate was on the 23rd of November 2000. How do I go about this? Can you assist me?

2. Gino S Says:
   February 20th, 2009 at 10:02 am

   Hi Alan,
   The Prime Interest Rate for all banks (incl Standard Bank) would have been 14.5% on 23rd of November 2000.

   The interest rate was cut to 14.5% on the 1st of Feb 2000 and remained unchanged, until another cut was made on the 18th of June 2001.

3. greymacpherson Says:
   May 22nd, 2009 at 2:39 pm

   Hey nice graph, its always easier to see whats going on when you have a picture! Lets just hope we don’t have the currency crash out that we had last time rates were aggressively cut.

4. Gino S Says:
   May 26th, 2009 at 5:58 pm

   Hi Graeme,

   Yeah, inflation is the hidden tax hey. I might be able to finally afford my bond repayments, but inflation may just erode my property investment.

   Thanx for the comment and complement!
   Gino

5. Veshlin Ganesh Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 5:57 am

   I registered my bond on the 17 April. The first debit came off this month.

   At the time of registation the rate was 13%, but changed to 12% early in May. I was debited this month based on 13%.

   Can anyone please explain??

6. Gino S Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 9:08 am

   Hi Veshlin,
   I would advise that you contact your bank and enquire about your debt order status.

   A similar thing actually happened to my bond repayment. The problem was that we had signed a document that stipulates that the bond installment is to remain unchanged if rates drop, but will be adjusted accordingly only when rates increase.

   The benefit of this was that if rates dropped I would maintain my monthly expense level, and actually pay off my bond faster

7. Bongani Says:
   June 3rd, 2009 at 10:20 am

   I am busy shopping around to buy a house, I would like to know if it is a good time to buy a house or rather wait now that we are in a economy meltdown .Interest rates have been dropped by 4.5% to stimulate investment in the economy and give bondholder a much needed relieve to afford bond paymnets.

8. Matthew Patrick Says:
   July 1st, 2009 at 11:26 am

   Hi!

   What was the 3 month JIBAR rate at 31 December 2008?

9. B Bhana Says:
   July 6th, 2009 at 10:13 am

   I would like to know if it’s a good time/your opinion about getting your existing home loan, interest rate fixed at this point in time?

10. Justine Adr Says:
    July 16th, 2009 at 12:08 pm

    Good day,

    We’ve just been informed by our letting agent that our rental on our 2 bedroom flat is going up for the second time in a year due to “market related increases” would this be right if the interest rate has dropped by 4% since we’ve moved in.

    Thanks, I look forward to your response.

    Justine.

11. Gino S Says:
    July 17th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    @Justine Adr,

    Although interest rates have come down, inflation still remains high and your agent may be factoring this into the rental. I would suggest that you ask them for a more detailed explanation for the increase.

12. Marius Says:
    August 14th, 2009 at 6:04 am

    What happened to the graph? Would like to see it…. can you supply to me?

13. Gino S Says:
    August 15th, 2009 at 7:52 am

    Hi Marius,

    To view the interest rate graph you would need to have JavaScript enabled on your web browser.
    If you continue to have trouble please let me know.

14. Brian C Says:
    August 28th, 2009 at 10:49 am

    Good Day

    I need to calculate the increase of my installment.
    On 07 july ’08 my installment was R6787, my installment jumped up to R7150 odd in aug- according to the table the intrest rate increased from 15% to 15.5% in june. Surely my installment should have stayed R6787?

    Very helpful site
    Thank you

15. Blessing Says:
    October 21st, 2009 at 10:57 pm

    Qn: If my bond is R850 000.00 on prime minus 1,5 interest rate and I pay R300 000.00 towards my bond. If my current payment were R7000.00 per month and I continue paying the same amount. How much longer will it take me to pay off my bond if I have only payed for this property for two years?

    Qn : Is it wise to pay this money towards this bond or rather find some investments?

16. Riette Says:
    October 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    Does anyone know where I can get older history? Say, the past 20years?

17. Riette Says:
    October 23rd, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    Found history on interest rate from 1948!!!
    http://liberta.co.za/blog/prime-interest-rate-in-south-africa-current-and-historical/

18. Riette Says:
    October 24th, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    To “Blessing”: A really helpful spreadsheet can be found at http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/arm-calculator.html. This allows you to enter different interest rates over the bond period and thus do projections in the pay-off period of your bond. It also allows you to add additional deposits and see what that does to the period.

    With reagrds to “Fixing” your interest rate. Info received from Standard Bank to consider is:
    1) The rate you will fix at is higher than the current by 1-2%. For e.g. Current rate is 10.5%, so you will only be able to fix at 11.5 – 12.5%.
    2) If you are currently receiving a concession based on a Group Scheme, you will lose this concession. So your interest rate will revert to the current rate + as per pt1.
    3) After your selected period to fix (12/18/24/36) months, you will probably have to re-apply for the group scheme concession.
    4) If you decided to continue fixing your interest rate after your selected period it will be set at whatever the rate is at THAT stage + the premium stated in pt1.
    5) Use the sheet above to calculate whether this will be worth it for your bond(s).

19. Mike Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    How can I find out what the average prime rate has been over the last 10 years (on a month to month basis)

    Thanks

20. Gerrit Says:
    November 2nd, 2009 at 9:56 am

    Can anybody help me with a realistic % escalation in a rental agreement?

21. Karen Says:
    November 5th, 2009 at 11:05 am

    SUCH a helpful graph! Great starting point from which to work even further back. And thanks to Riette too!

22. Gino S Says:
    November 5th, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    Thanks for the positive feedback Karen.

23. Ranj Says:
    April 1st, 2010 at 10:55 am

    Hi, the graph and history of interest rates is great however this is based on prime(Repo rate), can we have this in the JIBAR?

24. Marius Says:
    May 12th, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    Great Graph…I am about to by a car and have to decide if I want flex rate at 12.8% or fixed rate at 15.8%. It looks like the rate will likely go up before the car is paid off in 6 years…but is it likely to go up with 3% in say a years time? I’m not sure if I should take flexi or fixed…

25. Wilda Says:
    June 8th, 2010 at 3:12 pm

    Hi, what interest rate can a good client get on his home loan and on vehicle finance?

26. Gino - Property Loans Says:
    June 8th, 2010 at 3:51 pm

    Hi Wilda. We specialize in bond finance, and currently the banks are offering up to 1% or even 1.5% below prime on a home loan.

27. Z Matwa Says:
    June 29th, 2010 at 5:08 am

    What is a flexi bond?

28. B Says:
    July 2nd, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    Hi,

    How does an individual qualify for prime less 1.5%? do they work this out on the bond amount? How much would the loan amount be in this instance?
    What does your average life insurance work out to be on a bond of R1200 000?
    Thank you.

29. Caron Says:
    July 13th, 2010 at 5:50 pm

    Is it possible to get a file of daily prime interest rates from May 1999 to present day?
    Thanks

30. Tinus de Jager Says:
    August 11th, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    Pse help me with interest rates and the dates of the cuts period March 2009 to date.
    Thanks

31. Davem Says:
    August 19th, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    Hi everybody
    I came across this site which should be use very usefull, it
    answers quite a few of the above queries irt Prime Rate history.
    from 31st Dec 1948 up to 2010.

    http://liberta.co.za/blog/prime-interest-rate-in-south-africa-current-and-historical/

    Hope it helps you – enjoy:- Davem

32. frederik Says:
    August 24th, 2010 at 5:45 pm

    Thanks for a great site!
    Will reserve bank make last drop to boost economy?
    The sale of standard bank might pause this.The gold price is hovering low to where it should have been.The rand’s strength was not predicted.Do you think that they will drop the interest rate one more time by 50 points?Property prices did not drop as much as what was feared more than a year ago ,it seems to been more difficult to get your foot in on residential property,is this true?

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