Free Trial

Godongwana Says Gov't Is Not Holding Talks With SARB On CPI

SOUTH AFRICA

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told Bloomberg that the government is not discussing CPI with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and reaffirmed the central bank's independence, adding that he doesn't expect any changes to the SARB's inflation target.

  • This comes after ANC Secretary General told the media that the ruling party instructed Godongwana to discuss with the SARB how to contain inflation without raising interest rates further. The next inflation report is due tomorrow, with the SARB's monetary policy decision coming up Thursday.
  • Godongwana said that the Treasury will likely lower its 2023 GDP growth forecast from the +0.9% Y/Y February projection because of persistent power outages. In its credit rating update yesterday, Fitch cut its 2023 growth forecast for South Africa to zero from +0.2%.
  • Godongwana said that there is no reason to believe that South Africa will be deprived of trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), even as a bipartisan group of Congresspeople asked the White House to reconsider if the sub-Saharan nation should host the upcoming AGOA status.

To read the full story

Close

Why MNI

MNI is the leading provider

of intelligence and analysis on the Global Fixed Income, Foreign Exchange and Energy markets. We use an innovative combination of real-time analysis, deep fundamental research and journalism to provide unique and actionable insights for traders and investors. Our "All signal, no noise" approach drives an intelligence service that is succinct and timely, which is highly regarded by our time constrained client base.

Our Head Office is in London with offices in Chicago, Washington and Beijing, as well as an on the ground presence in other major financial centres across the world.