When will the Reserve Bank start to hike interest rates? Its comments after this week's monetary policy committee have added to a fever of debate about when, and even whether, it will increase, and by how much, especially given the uncertainty over what the recent unrest might do to the economic outlook.And governor Lesetja Kganyago again fuelled debate about where interest rates might be headed over the medium to longer term by reiterating his view that SA's inflation target should be reduced. He added that this would likely be addressed as part of a macroeconomic review under way in the government - and even hinted at a number, saying that many advanced countries had reviewed their inflation targets and kept them at around 2%, while several emerging markets had opted for 3%. "There is no virtue in higher inflation: higher inflation begets higher interest rates," the governor emphasised.The monetary policy committee again unanimously decided to keep the benchmark repo rate unchang...
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