Playing chicken with interest rates
The egg price snafu isn’t great for inflation, but a successful medium-term budget should reduce pressure on the Reserve Bank
02 November 2023 - 05:01
Under normal circumstances, the Reserve Bank would probably be done hiking the repo rate, having raised rates by an outsized 475 basis points (bp) to 8.25% over the past 18 months, into restrictive territory. Unfortunately, these are not normal times.
Globally, inflation has eased over the course of the year, but hopes for a further slowdown are being quashed by the fact that food price inflation remains stubbornly high, oil markets have tightened significantly and core inflation is proving persistent. ..
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