Life at Work

This blog reflects on life at work at comments on the latest news that shapes my 9-5 working day in a Corporate Communications consultancy.

About Me

I am a born and bred South African who has always loved to read and write. As a child my mother used to read to me and my siblings, from classics like the “Lord of the Rings” but later also from her own stories. She would write children’s stories and then use us as her test audience, but I loved to hear what she had written long after my siblings had tired of it. So I grew up in an environment of reading and writing, which inspired my love of these things. I hope to write a great book some day, and have learnt first hand the determination and will that it takes. My love of English inspired me to continue my study of it at university. I majored in Law and English in a BA degree at UCT where I found that I took to English much more than law. I enjoyed learning about South Africa’s history and the development of our liberal Constitution, which increasingly made me committed to the hope this country has for the future. Ideally, I’d like to find myself in a job where I am able to write; that allows a good mix of time spent with people and being able to work on my own.

Thursday, 12 February 2009

Interest rates in numbers

With Interest rates and the budget all over the news lately, this FM article provides a quick snapshot.

100 basis points, or 1%, was the SA Reserve Bank's interest rate cut last week, making the prime lending rate 10,5%. This will provide relief to cash-strapped consumers.


2003 was the last time the bank made this big a rate adjustment. Bank governor Tito Mboweni had, uncharacteristically, said he had favoured a 2% cut.


10,3% was SA's consumer inflation in December 2008. Declining inflation and consumer confidence gave the bank reason to cut.


0,2% was Q3 economic growth rate in SA, its slowest in a decade. Mining, retail and manufacturing experienced negative growth.


1% is the interest rate in the UK, the lowest in the 300-year history of its central bank. The UK has consistently decreased its interest rates from 5% in October last year, in a bid to drag its economy out of a recession.


0%-0,25% is the interest rate in the US. It is down from 4,75% in September 2007.


0,1% is Japan's interest rate. 2% is what Europe opted to leave its interest rate at, this month. It has suggested it may

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