JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s Reserve Bank will leave interest rates unchanged next week as it manages a tight balancing act between inflation threatening to quicken later this year and a weak growth outlook, a Reuters poll found on Friday.
“Since the last meeting, there has not been any significant change that would warrant the change in the rate stance hence we do not expect any movement next week,” said Isaac Matshego, senior economist at Nedbank. Still, South Africa remains under pressure from slow economic growth, with a deteriorating pace in recent years contributing to revenue shortfalls and a weakening of the financial position of state-owned companies.
Jeffrey Schultz at BNP Paribas said weaker growth, a benign developed market rates outlook - likely exacerbated by heightened U.S.-China trade tensions - and scope for further downside surprises to the Reserve Bank’s CPI estimates, opens the door to a more dovish central bank.