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"The Freedom Front plus welcomes the announcement of the Reserve Bank that the repo rate has been lowered by 50 basis points. This lowering will encourage consumers, who are suffering under a debt burden, to pay off debts much quicker and hopefully start saving," Adv. Anton Alberts, chief spokesperson on Finance for the Freedom Front Plus says.

Saving forms the cornerstone of a healthy economy and the Minister of Finance could further investigate possibilities to encourage more saving. As the global economy is still showing a limited improvement only, it would be wise to speed up repayment of debt and increase savings in order for the South African economy to participate in the eventual upward swing in markets.

"This lowering of the repo rate is however bad news for pensioners who rely on interests for their monthly income. Just as the FF Plus had suggested in the past, the party would once again like to ask the Minister of Finance to investigate the possibility of creating a special dispensation for pensioners so that interest rate cuts do not negatively affect their investments," was the opinion of Adv. Alberts.

The FF Plus would like to propose that the government give consideration to social investment instruments where investors are rewarded for savings which they manage to make, in, for example, state hospitals and old age homes and through the non-payment of state pensions. Similar programs have been implemented in the USA and Britain with great success.