§ Rates & Yields

November 2026

RSA Retail Savings Bonds · curve snapshot

Treasury fixing window · 01 Nov – 30 Nov 2026 · effective for new buyers; existing holders keep their original rate to maturity

Treasury's monthly rates, plotted against the and the . Read the before you commit; the long archive at the bottom of the page tells you whether today's offer is wide or tight in cycle context.

This month · headline rates

2-year Fixed

RSARSB2

8.25%

unchanged vs last month

3-year Fixed

RSARSB3

8.50%

unchanged vs last month

5-year Fixed

RSARSB5

9.00%

unchanged vs last month

Top-Up

RSATOP

8.50%

unchanged vs last month

Source

National Treasury

rsaretailbonds.gov.za

Reference curves

SAGB on-the-runs

ILB benchmarks for real yield

Convention

NACS · Yields p.a.

nominal annual compound semi-annual; nominal unless marked CPI+

Currency

South African Rand

ZAR · symbol R

RSA Retail Savings Bonds · November 2026

Fixed Rate

Pays a set rate for the full term.

Term	Minimum	Last month	This month	vs last
2 years	R1,000	8.25%	8.25%	flat
3 years	R1,000	8.50%	8.50%	flat
5 years	R1,000	9.00%	9.00%	flat

Inflation-Linked (real coupon + CPI)

Capital indexed to CPI; real coupon paid every 6 months.

Term	Minimum	Last month	This month	vs last
3 years	R1,000	CPI + 4.25%	CPI + 4.25%	flat
5 years	R1,000	CPI + 4.50%	CPI + 4.50%	flat
10 years	R1,000	CPI + 4.75%	CPI + 4.75%	flat

Top-Up

Whole balance earns one quarterly rate — every deposit, including past top-ups, moves with it.

Term	Minimum	Last month	This month	vs last	12-month trend
3 years	R500	8.50%	8.50%	flat

Source: National Treasury, rsaretailbonds.gov.za. Rates are set monthly and held flat until Treasury changes them. "vs last" is the change in basis points from the rate Treasury published the previous month at the same tenor.

Two curves, one comparison.Nominal on the left says what cash pays. Real on the right says what beats inflation. The retail markers show where RSBs land on each — that's the spread worth watching.

Government nominal yield curve · today

2y–10y retail range, and plotted against the .

Live curve feed unavailable — chart shows the most recent illustrative levels

Spread · RSB Fixed vs SAGB

2yr Fixed · 2y

+0.48%

8.25% vs 7.77% gov

3yr Fixed · 3y

+0.49%

8.50% vs 8.01% gov

5yr Fixed · 5y

+0.63%

9.00% vs 8.37% gov

2yr–10yr retail-relevant range. 2/3/5yr emphasised. Solid line is the government curve; dashed line is the current RSB Fixed curve. The Top-Up triangle plots the Top-Up bond rate against the 3y curve point.

ILB real-yield curve · today

SA benchmarks ( , above ) with current RSB IL real .

Awaiting live JSE feed · showing reference levels

Spread · RSB IL real coupon vs ILGB benchmark

3yr Inflation-Linked · 3y

+0.80%

CPI+4.25% vs CPI+3.45% ILGB

5yr Inflation-Linked · 5y

+0.95%

CPI+4.50% vs CPI+3.55% ILGB

10yr Inflation-Linked · 10y

+0.70%

CPI+4.75% vs CPI+4.05% ILGB

Real yields sit above CPI — for nominal comparisons, add the prevailing CPI rate. Solid line is the ILGB benchmark (reference levels — JSE YieldX feed not yet returned); dashed line is the current RSB IL retail curve. The RSB IL real coupons step in 0.25% increments, so the dashed line moves quarterly while the ILGB benchmark moves daily.

Barry · holder's read

Read the curves, then go and hold.

Treasury sets the rate on the day you buy. After that, every coupon arrives on the date it was always going to arrive, and the capital comes back the day the bond matures. The curves move; your bond doesn't. That's the deal.

R100,000 into 5y Fixed

R 155,297

at 9.00% reinvested · +R 55k interest

Inflation-Linked 5y · real

CPI + 4.50%

indexed capital · half-yearly real coupon

Top-Up · this quarter

8.50%

resets quarterly · whole book on the prevailing rate

How a coupon is actually calculated ↓Open the holder view →No fees · Treasury direct · capital secured by the SA fiscus

How an Inflation-Linked coupon is calculated

Treasury terminology, step-by-step. The real coupon you see in the table is half the story — the Rand you receive each six months tracks indexed principal, which moves with CPI.

Step 1 · Reference CPI

Find the right CPI value

StatsSA releases headline CPI (P0141) mid-month, with a roughly four-week lag. Treasury uses a t−3 month convention: the reference CPI for any given day is linearly interpolated between the CPI prints from three and four months prior.

CPI_ref(d) = CPI(t−4) + (day(d) − 1) / days_in_month
                    × ( CPI(t−3) − CPI(t−4) )

Step 2 · Indexation factor

Inflate the principal

The ratios today's reference CPI against the reference CPI on your settlement date. It moves with realised inflation, so indexed capital can dip if CPI falls. Only the amount repaid at maturity has a floor: Treasury tops it up to your original capital.

Indexation Factor =
  CPI_ref(today) / CPI_ref(settlement)

Indexed Principal =
  Initial Principal × Indexation Factor

Step 3 · Real coupon

Apply Treasury's real rate

The number Treasury publishes monthly (e.g. CPI + 4.25%) is the — the rate above inflation. The rand cashflow is half-yearly: indexed principal times the real coupon, divided by two.

Half-yearly Coupon =
  Indexed Principal × Real Coupon / 2

At maturity:
  Capital returned =
    max(Initial, Indexed Principal)

Worked example

Buy R100,000 of a 5y Inflation-Linked at CPI + 4.25% on 1 May 2026. Suppose realised CPI runs at 5% per year for the next twelve months.

1 May 2027 indexation factor = 1.05
Indexed principal = R100,000 × 1.05 = R105,000
6-month coupon (Nov 2026) ≈ R102,500 × 4.25% / 2 = R2,178

If CPI then runs another year at 5%, by maturity:

Cumulative indexation ≈ 1.05⁵ = 1.276
Capital returned ≈ R127,628
Plus 10 half-yearly real coupons across rising indexed principal
Approx total return: R155k–R160k on R100k face

Bond Club uses the StatsSA P0141 series to compute realised indexation. Where the CPI cache is still hydrating, we fall back to a 5% flat assumption and tag the resulting projection so you know which value drove the screen.

Now zoom out.Today's rate isn't wide or tight in the abstract — it's wide or tight versus the last twenty years. The archive below is the ruler.

Rate history · 22-year archive

Nominal rates (Fixed / Top-Up) read off the left axis; Inflation-Linked real coupons read off the right axis. Real coupons sit on top of CPI — don't compare directly to nominal.

New to RSA Retail Savings Bonds?

A primer on what RSBs are, how Treasury sets the rates, and the rules around buying, redeeming and re-starting.

Read →

Article

Inflation-Linked vs Fixed Rate

How CPI indexation actually works, and when each is the right tool.

Read →

Article

Is my money safe in RSA Retail Bonds?

Government debt is the safest credit in the country, and retail savers sit at the front of the queue.

Read →

That's the rate side of the story.Take any of these to a calculator and I'll show you what a position pays out month by month.Open a calculator →