A Reuters poll of economists said prices could rise faster than they had expected before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Fifteen of 19 economists polled in the last week predicted the repo rate would rise by 25 basis points to 4.25% on March 24, while the remaining four said it would be left unchanged.
“While the decision itself is unlikely to come as a surprise, we think the statement and quarterly projection model outputs are likely to be closely scrutinised for signs of a central bank becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the inflation outlook with deeper negative real rates likely to ensure over the coming quarters,” he said.
Brent crude oil prices have shot up averaging $94 per barrel in February and $110 per barrel in March, so far, Ruskike said. The Bloomberg consensus is at 5.8% y-o-y, it said. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation soon to provide guidance on how the government is planning to manage regulations relating to Covid-19 once the state of disaster is lifted, which was once again extended by a month last week, to 15 April,” the BER said.