Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Bank of Namibia Holds Interest Rate at 6.00%

The Bank of Namibia held its benchmark interest rate, the repurchase rate, steady at 6.00%, for the 6th consecutive meeting.  Bank of Namibia Governor Ipumbu Shiimi said: "the MPC is of the view that global economic growth has slowed down noticeably. Global financial markets have shown increasing signs of stress, in both advanced and emerging market economies. The domestic economy continues to grow at a slow pace, particularly in the primary sector. MPC also noted the recent rise in inflation, which was brought about by the rise in prices in specific consumer goods and services."


The Namibian central bank also held its interest rate unchanged at its October meeting, after dropping the rate 75 basis points in December last year.  Namibia reported annual inflation of 6.1% on October, up from 5.3% in September, compared to 5.4% the previous month, 4.8% in July, 5.4% in June, 5.2% in May, and 4.8% in April.  Namibia's currency is fixed against neighboring South Africa's rand (ZAR), thus the Namibian central bank tends to follow the monetary policy decisions of the South African Reserve Bank.

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