By www.CentralBankNews.info South Africa’s central bank held its benchmark repurchase rate steady at 5.0 percent and said a deterioration in the outlook for inflation had limited the bank’s ability to ease its policy.
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB), which cut rates by 50 basis points in 2012, said its current policy stance was “accommodative and appropriate” with the real policy rate slightly negative, notwithstanding the temporary breach of the inflation target.
“However, further accommodation at this stage is constrained by the upside risks to the inflation outlook,” the bank said in a statement, quoting its governor Gill Marcus.
