Repo rate remains unchanged

WINDHOEK, 13 JUN  – The Bank of Namibia (BoN) has left the repo rate unchanged at 6.75 per cent.
This was announced by BoN Governor Ipumbu Shiimi during the third monetary policy announcement in the capital on Wednesday.
He explained that the decision was taken in order to safeguard the level of foreign reserves and support domestic economic growth, while maintaining the one-to-one link between the Namibia Dollar and South African Rand.
He however said despite improvements in some key sectors such as mining, agriculture and transport and communications, domestic economic activities remained slow during the first four months of 2018.
“This slow activity was largely reflected in the wholesale and retail trade and fishing sectors,” Shiimi said.
He nonetheless stated that even though the economy started off slow during these months, the domestic economy is expected to perform slightly better in 2018 compared to 2017.
Annual inflation fell to 3.6 per cent during the first four months of 2018 from 7.4 per cent during the corresponding period in 2017, mainly due to the decline in inflation of the food and non-alcoholic beverages as well as housing categories.
Shiimi added that inflation for the transport category rose during the same period mainly on account of higher fuel prices.
On a monthly basis, the inflation rate rose slightly to 3.6 per cent during April 2018, from 3.5 per cent in the previous month, and it is expected to average around four per cent in 2018.
As for global economic activity, Shiimi revealed that it has moderated during the first quarter of 2018, compared to the previous quarter, adding that this slower growth is reflected in most of monitored Advanced Economies (AE) which registered lower growth rates during the beginning of 2018.
Going forward, the global economy is projected to grow by 3.9 per cent in 2018, on account of marginally higher projected growth in both AEs and the Emerging Market and Developing Economies than the previous year.

NAMPA