Economic data are providing confusing signals to the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC), which starts its two-day meeting tomorrow. The bank has cut its repo rate by 3.5 percentage points since December, to 8.5 percent – after a hike of 5 percentage points between June 2006 and June 2008.
The argument for a further cut will be supported by data due today from Statistics SA, which will show gross domestic product (GDP) shrank in the first quarter, after contracting an annualised 1.8 percent in the previous quarter.
Posted by rldaly 
