According to a recent Debt Rescue survey:
- 48.5% of respondents said they did not know how they would cope with higher interest rates.
- 32.2% said they would need to make cuts to their budgets.
When the Reserve Bank raised the benchmark repo rate to 7% in May, it cited a worsening inflation outlook, largely due to higher oil prices and the risk of drought associated with the El Niño weather pattern.