The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) left interest rates unchanged on Tuesday.

Newly-appointed governor Gill Marcus said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had decided to keep the key repo rate at seven percent.

This means that the prime rate stays at 10.5 percent.

This had been expected by economists.

The SARB has cut its repo rate by 500 basis points since December 2008 to support the economy, which has been hit by its first recession in 17 years.