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South African Central Bank Governor’s Comments on Rate Decision

South African Central Bank Governor’s Comments on Rate Decision

Below are some quotes from South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago at a news conference to announce the central bank’s latest interest rate decision.

INFLATION

“We now see inflation stabilising at our 4.5% objective in the second quarter of next year. This is an improvement on our March forecast, which only reached this milestone at the end of 2025.”

“The changes to the outlook, however, are not large when compared to our March forecast. Average inflation for 2025 is only a tenth of a percentage point lower. The task of achieving our inflation objective is not yet done.”

“The Committee remains concerned that inflation expectations are elevated. After three years of inflation being above 4.5%, few survey respondents, especially from businesses and trade unions, now believe that inflation will be at 4.5% in two years’ time.”

“Although the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) assesses the inflation forecast risks to be broadly balanced at present, high inflation expectations require that we deliver on our target sooner rather than later, to re-anchor expectations.”

GROWTH

“Economic activity indicators for the first quarter have been coming in worse than expected, despite reduced electricity load-shedding (power cuts). However, these higher-frequency data can be volatile.”

“We still forecast GDP growth of 1.2% this year. The growth numbers for the outer years also remain unchanged. We assess the risks to the growth outlook as balanced.”

“The recent improvement in the power supply, with no load-shedding since 26 March, is a welcome development. We have revised our load-shedding assumption down, but additional revisions may be required if this performance is sustained.”

DECISION

“The MPC decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 8.25%. The decision was unanimous.”

“The forecast continues to see policy normalisation, with rates easing into more neutral territory by next year.”

“Decisions of the MPC will continue to be data dependent, and sensitive to the balance of risks to the outlook. We are committed to stabilising inflation at the mid-point of the target band.”

See Also

Reuters

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