Rates to remain stable for longer

Published Mar 5, 2015

Share

LOCAL policymakers indicated that interest rates would remain unchanged for longer, with no immediate need to raise or reduce borrowing costs. The Reserve Bank had “some room to pause in its interest-rate normalisation process” after lowering its inflation forecasts, deputy governor Daniel Mminele said on Tuesday. Deputy governor Francois Groepe said yesterday that the bar for policy accommodation remained high. Policymakers have kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged since raising it to 5.75 percent in July. Falling oil prices helped to push the inflation rate down to the lowest level in more than three years, fuelling speculation that the central bank may cut interest rates to support an economy that grew at the slowest pace since a 2009 recession last year. The Reserve Bank was aware “of how the oil price decline has significantly changed the near-term inflation outlook”, Mminele said. – Bloomberg

Related Topics: