The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) cut its main lending rate by 100 basis points (bps) to 5.25% on Thursday in a unanimous decision, citing a dire local and global economic outlook due to the deepening impact of the global coronavirus outbreak.

The margin of the reduction anticipated by a majority of analysts polled by Reuters last week was 50 bps, while only one of the 22 analysts had forecast the aggressive 100 bps move. The SARB had not cut in increments larger than 25 bps since 2012.