The week in review

The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) maintained the repo rate at 3.5%, in line with the median forecast of 18 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. But it looks like the next move is up so start paying off those credit cards. Pick n Pay group chief executive Pieter Boone has called for president Cyril Ramaphosa to lift the country’s restrictions on the sale of alcohol. And as the vaccination drive got into high gear with the gen-xers this week there is now talk of introducing a Basic Income Grant. Is this a good idea? To put things into perspective Michael Avery spoke to Warwick Lucas Chief Investment Officer at Galileo Asset Managers; Raymond Parsons, professor in the School of Business and Governance at Northwest University & Isaah Mhlanga, Chief Economist at Alexander Forbes.