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Pretoria - The economy's recovery from a 2009 recession has remained hesitant and the outlook for growth this year is poor, providing a difficult backdrop for the Reserve Bank, Governor Gill Marcus said on Friday.
The bank would maintain its focus price stability within a flexible inflation-targeting framework, Marcus reiterated in an introduction to its 2012/13 annual report.
"The economy is facing a difficult time as it is buffeted by both global and domestic challenges. The bank will play its part in trying to navigate the economy through these turbulent times," she said.
A weaker rand and wage pressures have emerged as the main upside risks to inflation, Marcus said in the report, a largely backward-looking document that looks at the bank's activities during the financial year ended March 2013.
The Reserve Bank has kept the benchmark repo rate on hold at four-decade lows of 5.0% since a 50 basis point cut in July last year aimed at boosting sluggish growth.
Bubbling inflationary pressures stemming from a sharp decline in the rand have prevented it from loosening policy any further.
The rand has fallen 18% against the dollar since the start of this year, weighed down by investor concerns about a wide current account deficit and the impact on the economy of often violent mining strikes.
More recently, the prospect of the US Federal Reserve winding up its bond-buying stimulus programme in the world's biggest economy has also weighed on the local currency.
The bank would maintain its focus price stability within a flexible inflation-targeting framework, Marcus reiterated in an introduction to its 2012/13 annual report.
"The economy is facing a difficult time as it is buffeted by both global and domestic challenges. The bank will play its part in trying to navigate the economy through these turbulent times," she said.
A weaker rand and wage pressures have emerged as the main upside risks to inflation, Marcus said in the report, a largely backward-looking document that looks at the bank's activities during the financial year ended March 2013.
The Reserve Bank has kept the benchmark repo rate on hold at four-decade lows of 5.0% since a 50 basis point cut in July last year aimed at boosting sluggish growth.
Bubbling inflationary pressures stemming from a sharp decline in the rand have prevented it from loosening policy any further.
The rand has fallen 18% against the dollar since the start of this year, weighed down by investor concerns about a wide current account deficit and the impact on the economy of often violent mining strikes.
More recently, the prospect of the US Federal Reserve winding up its bond-buying stimulus programme in the world's biggest economy has also weighed on the local currency.
