The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee is widely expected to hold its key repo rate steady at 6.5% this week, despite a range of economic factors which suggest it has plenty of scope to cut. In a Reuters’ poll, 21 out of 24 economists said they expected the MPC to leave the rate unchanged when its statement is read on Thursday 16 January, at the conclusion of its three-day meeting.
MPC votes of late have been close — at the last one in November, three of the five members voted to hold, while two favoured a cut — so such factors have hardly escaped the committee’s notice.
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