South Africa: SA Reserve Bank keeps repo rate unchanged at 8.25%

Four Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members preferred an unchanged stance and two preferred a reduction of 25 basis points. MPC members agreed that the restrictive policy was appropriate to stabilise inflation at 4.5%, given the inflation risks.

“Economic performance in the first half of the year was disappointing. The economy contracted slightly in the first quarter, by 0.1%, and recent data, including last week’s mining and manufacturing numbers, have caused us to trim our second…