{"id":33300,"date":"2026-04-29T14:57:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=33300"},"modified":"2026-04-29T14:57:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:57:35","slug":"namibia-holds-key-interest-rate-as-iran-war-darkens-outlook","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/namibia-holds-key-interest-rate-as-iran-war-darkens-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"Namibia holds key interest rate as Iran war darkens outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"
Namibia’s Central bank kept its \u200bmain interest rate unchanged at 6.50% on Wednesday, saying the \u200coutlook for economic growth and inflation had worsened due to the spill over effects of the Iran war.<\/div>\n
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It was the third meeting in a row the Bank \u200bof Namibia has maintained its repo rate.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Annual inflation slowed to 2.1% in \u200bMarch, down from 2.4% in February and hitting its \u2060lowest level since 2020, though it is expected to pick up \u200bin the months ahead.<\/div>\n
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In an effort to cushion the impact of \u200bthe global energy price surge triggered by the United States and Israeli war against Iran, the Southern African country’s government cut fuel levies by 50% for at least three months \u200buntil the end of June.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Risks to the domestic inflation outlook \u200bremain tilted to the upside, notably through potential increases in administered prices, exchange rate \u200cvolatility, \u2060and the spillover effects of the prolonged war in the Middle East,” Central Bank Governor Ebson Uanguta told a press conference.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Inflation is expected to average 3.7% this year, higher than the 3.5% forecast \u200bgiven at the \u200bbank’s last \u2060policy meeting in February.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Earlier this month the central bank lowered its economic growth forecasts for this year and \u200bnext, citing a weaker-than-expected performance of primary industries, especially \u200bmetals \u2060and diamond mining.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Namibia’s monetary policy decisions typically mirror those of its neighbour South Africa, as the two countries’ currencies are pegged one-to-one and \u2060their economies \u200bclosely linked.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
South Africa’s Central bank kept its \u200bkey rate at 6.75% at last month’s rate-setting meeting.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
–Reuters–<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33301,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-33300","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Namibia's Central bank","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33302,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33300\/revisions\/33302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}