By Kopano Gumbi, Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya
PRETORIA (Reuters) -South Africa’s central bank left its main lending rate unchanged at 8.25% on Thursday, as its Governor Lesetja Kganyago said there was no clear disinflation trend yet.
It was the fourth meeting in a row that the bank has left its repo rate on hold. All economists polled by Reuters had forecast that the rate would be left unchanged.
The decision was unanimous, Kganyago said.
Inflation fell for a second month to 5.1% year on year in December from 5.5% in November, remaining within the central bank’s target range of 3%-6%.
The bank has said it wants to see inflation sustainably around the midpoint of its target range, which is 4.5%, before considering rate cuts.
The central bank said in its Monetary Policy Committee statement that the return to its inflation target had been slow.
“There isn’t a discernible trend that shows that inflation is declining towards (the midpoint of) our target,” Kganyago said.
Concerns for the central bank remain imported goods inflation, food prices, and constraints from the electricity and logistics networks.
(Additional reporting by Anait Miridzhanian and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo in JohannesburgEditing by Alexander Winning)
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