The chief economist at one of South Africa’s largest commercial bank believes the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) will take a “defensive posture” in responding to the recent downgrade of the nation’s sovereign debt. But it is unlikely to intervene using either monetary policy or foreign exchange intervention, unless there is a strong impact on inflation.

“Although the rand has depreciated at least 10% against major trading partner currencies in the last two weeks, the pass-through to