South Africa Maintains Base Rate at 8.25%... Fifth Consecutive Hold

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) decided to keep the benchmark interest rate at 8.25% at the Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on the 27th (local time). With this, South Africa has kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged for five consecutive times since July last year.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of SARB, stated, "It is welcome that inflation expectations have eased," but added, "The major advanced economies' interest rates have remained high for a long time, causing the rand to trade weaker than expected."

He also added, "It is expected that central banks of major countries around the world will cut interest rates at a slower pace and at a later time."

Governor Kganyago further explained that the South African economy underperformed expectations, growing only 0.1% in the fourth quarter of last year, resulting in an overall growth rate of 0.6% for 2023.

He cited power shortages and disruptions in port and rail logistics as the main causes of the poor performance, then forecasted, "As these supply-side constraints ease, a moderate growth trend is expected from this year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.