{"id":39826,"date":"2026-07-17T10:49:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=39826"},"modified":"2026-07-17T10:49:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:49:40","slug":"rand-slips-with-inflation-and-rate-setting-meeting-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-slips-with-inflation-and-rate-setting-meeting-in-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand slips with inflation and rate setting meeting in focus"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The South African (SA) Rand slipped in early trade on Friday as investor focus shifted to the release \u200bof domestic consumer price inflation data and next week&#8217;s \u200crate-setting meeting, which is expected to be a close call.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Rand traded at 16.46 against the Dollar, roughly down 0.4% \u200bfrom its previous close.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The currency has remained under pressure for \u200bmuch of the week as heightened tensions in the \u2060Middle East dampened risk appetite.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It is on track \u200bto lose about 1% this week for a second consecutive weekly \u200bdecline.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Traders are now focused on June consumer inflation data due on Wednesday for fresh clues on the SA Reserve Bank&#8217;s plans on interest \u200brates.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Headline inflation rose less than expected to 4.5% year on \u200byear in May, from 4.0% in April. Analysts had forecast 4.7% for the \u200cMay \u2060figure.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Johann Els, Chief Economist at PSG Financial Services, expects inflation to edge up to 4.7% in June and for the SARB to leave its main lending rate unchanged at next \u200bweek&#8217;s meeting.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>However, Els \u200bsaid the \u2060renewed conflict in the Middle East and resulting rise in oil prices had complicated the policy outlook, \u200bkeeping an increase of 25 basis points \u200bon the \u2060table.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The central bank raised its main lending rate for the first time in three years at its previous meeting.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On the Johannesburg Stock \u2060Exchange, \u200bthe Top-40 index was down 0.5% \u200bin early trade.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The yield on SA&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government bond dropped by \u200b2.5 basis points to 8.475%.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-39826","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand slipped in early trade on Friday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39826","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\/39826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39827,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39826\/revisions\/39827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=39826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}