JOHANNESBURG - The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will announce its decision on the repo rate at a press conference this afternoon at 3pm.
The MPC is meeting this week for the third time since the beginning of the year.
Earlier this week, Business Report reported that SARB was expected to keep the repo rate steady at 3.5 percent, because the stronger rand and high commodity prices were supporting the economy amid accelerating consumer prices.
Economic research company NKC African Economics said it believed the MPC would keep the repo rate unchanged at 3.5 percent.
At its previous meeting, the MPC unanimously decided to leave the rate unchanged, but warned that its implied policy rate path indicated an increase of 25 basis points in each of the second and fourth quarters of this year.
Investec economist Kamilla Kaplan said today they expected the SARB to keep the repo rate on hold, despite the expectation that Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation would increase in the coming months. The bank’s CPI forecast for 2021 is higher at 4.3 percent, but is still between its target range of 3 to 6 percent.
The MPC press conference will be held at 3pm and will be streamed live on the SARB’s Facebook and YouTube accounts.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE