Lower merchandise export volumes, higher real financing costs , a weakening rand against major trading currencies due to unpredictability and a decrease in the real value of building plans passed subdued business confidence.
South Africa’s headline inflation fell below the Sarb’s upper target range of 6%, prompting the bank to maintain the repo rate at its recent Monetary Policy Committee meeting. Producer inflation also decreased to 4.8% and intermediary output prices rose by only 2.4% year on year, indicating a potential easing of the inflationary process. As a result, a modest interest rate policy may persist.
It also does not help that retail sales dropped in the second quarter as consumers feel the pinch of high prices. The latest retail sales data shows that consumers kept their wallets shut in the second quarter. Economic research group, Oxford Economics Africa, says the outturn was broadly in line with its expectation of -0.8% compared to a year ago, but worse than the consensus forecast of -0.2%. Retail trade sales decreased by 1.0% in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter and should detract from real GDP growth during the quarter, as expected.
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South African rand flat as business confidence index dueThe South African rand was little changed in early trade on Thursday before the release of business confidence figures later in the day.
Source: ReutersAfrica - 🏆 31. / 53 Read more »