JOHANNESBURG - Some economists believe the South African Reserve Bank will again keep the repo rate unchanged at Thursday’s highly anticipated announcement.
The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has been keeping a close watch on economic indicators as they meet to decide on the repo rate.Economist Dale McKinley said the MPC is likely to keep the repo rate at 8.25%. “I think we expect nothing basically. I think we expect a holding pattern. The fact that inflation is well within the target range, as well as a very slight increase this month – I would assume that they would not return to hiking the rate so I expect that it would remain the same.”
Efficient group economist Francois Stofberg said Wednesday’s decision on the federal reserve rate in the US will also be important. "I think it’s helped us in the last couple of months that the US fed hasn’t been as hawkish or as aggressive as they were in the last couple of months. So, that has given us some alleviation. Maybe we can breathe a sigh of relief that they won’t increase the repo tomorrow and maybe they can give us some more guidance on what to expect in the next coming months."