​The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) introduced a range of measures to ease liquidity strains in domestic financial markets, similar to that of many other central banks globally, to cushion the economy against the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.This note provides a brief overview of the recent liquidity measures that were implemented by the SARB, while also reflecting on changes to monetary policy operations3 since 2010. In addition, these measures are also contextualised relative to the absence of the need for such interventions during the 2007–09 global financial crisis (GFC). South Africa’s current financial market conditions reflect similarities to those experienced by other countries during the GFC, when central banks in developed economies introduced so-called unconventional monetary policies.