Repo rate unchanged at 5.5%

Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus

The Reserve Bank has left the repo rate unchanged at 5.5% following its second Monetary Policy Committee meeting this year.

“After all the contributing factors, the Monetary Policy Committee has decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.5% per annum," Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus said at the media briefing on Thursday. 

Marcus said while the US economy was starting to show signs of improvement, the Eurozone crisis was expected to continue to bring difficulties in global markets. 

The central bank has left its repo rate unchanged at 5.5% for the past 16 months, after reducing it by 650 basis points in the two years to end-2010. 

South Africa's producer price index recorded growth of 8.3% year-on-year (y/y) in February, from 8.9% y/y in January. Consumer inflation slowed to 6.1% y/y in February - easing back towards the Reserve Bank's 3-6% target band after breaching it in November.