Though estimates vary, the economy is expected to contract by anywhere between 5.4% and 16.7% in 2020. The Bank now expects a contraction of 7%, while it forecast consumer inflation to average 3.4% for the year.
With households facing shrinking incomes or job losses, and fears that businesses will battle to survive continued weeks of little or no activity, calls have mounted for the government to hasten re-opening the economy.
The repo rate has now been cut by 275bps since the beginning of 2020.
Prior to the announcement the rand was 0.6% firmer at R17.7961/$. Within a few minutes of the news it had firmed further to be 1.02% stronger at R17.7258/$.
The yield on the R2030 government bond was little changed at 8.98% before Kganyago spoke, and remained unchanged a few minutes after his speech. Bond yields move inversely to their prices.