ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Johannesburg Interbank Average Rate

The Johannesburg Interbank Average Rate, or JIBAR for short, is like a big jar filled with money that banks in Johannesburg use to borrow or lend money to each other. Imagine you have a piggy bank filled with coins and your friend wants to borrow some coins from you. You might say to your friend "okay, you can borrow my coins, but you have to give them back to me plus a little bit extra". That "little bit extra" is kind of like the JIBAR interest rate that banks use.

The JIBAR interest rate is the average interest rate that banks charge each other when they borrow or lend money. Just like your friend had to give you back your coins plus a little bit extra, banks have to pay back the money they borrow plus a little bit extra to the other banks that lent them the money. That extra bit is the interest rate.

Why do banks need to borrow money from each other? Well, sometimes a bank might not have enough money to meet all of its needs. They might need to pay their employees, invest in new projects, or lend money to customers. That's where other banks come in. They can lend money to the bank that needs it, but they'll want to be paid back with a little bit of interest.

So, the JIBAR rate helps banks set the interest rates for their loans and other financial products. If the JIBAR rate is high, it means that banks are charging each other more to borrow money, and that can lead to higher interest rates for people who want to borrow money from those banks. If the JIBAR rate is low, it means that banks are charging each other less, and that can lead to lower interest rates for borrowers.

That's the basic idea of the JIBAR rate - it's a way for banks to borrow and lend money to each other, and it helps set the interest rates for loans and other financial products.