WATCH: MPC announces rate hike decision
JOHANNESBURG – Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago is announcing the bank’s latest decision on interest rates hike after a three-day meeting of the monetary policy committee he chairs.
Read: SA Reserve Bank keeps interest rates unchanged
South Africa’s central bank is likely to keep its benchmark repo rate unchanged on Thursday after raising it by 25 basis points last November to stem inflation pressures.
Last November’s hike, which brought the repurchase rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks to 6.75 percent, came despite weak economic growth, with the The National Treasury cutting its growth forecast for 2018 to 0.7 percent from 1.5 percent.
Kganyago said it was necessary to act then, as delaying the adjustment in interest rates could cause inflation expectations to become entrenched at higher levels.
But while the quarterly projection model which serves as a policy guideline for the South African Reserve Bank’s (Sarb) monetary policy committee suggests three further interest rate hikes by the end of 2020, the SARB is unlikely to raise interest rates in January, audit firm PwC said this week.
WATCH Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago announce his decision below:
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Source: iol.co.za