Related Articles
Top Stories
May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
May 27 2012 11:49
The country's 200 000-odd Tupperware agents are angry about the counterfeit products being sold as the real McCoy.
Pretoria - South Africa's central bank raised its key repo rate by 50 basis points to 12% on Thursday, below forecasts, after inflation surged to a 5-1/2 year high and moved further away from the target range.
The half-percentage-point rise extends a monetary tightening cycle, and brings to 500 basis points hikes since June 2006 to try tame inflation.
The targeted CPIX gauge surged to 10.4% year-on-year in April - the 13th month it has exceeded the 3% to 6% band - prompting hawkish comments from central bank Governor Tito Mboweni last month.
Only 4 of 22 economists polled by Reuters last week forecast rates would rise by 50 basis points, with 18 predicting a 100 basis point rise.