Growth in borrowing by households and companies fell from 9.1% in the previous month, the Pretoria-based Reserve Bank said on its website today. The median estimate of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 8.8%.
The Reserve Bank has kept the benchmark repurchase rate at 5% for a year as a decline in the rand and rising fuel prices spur inflation, limiting the room to cut interest rates to stimulate the economy.
Consumer spending in the first quarter grew at the slowest pace since the 2009 recession.
"Growth in credit extension is likely to remain relatively subdued during the second half of the year, as consumer and business confidence is still fragile, the job market remains weak and high existing personal debt and tight lending standards will make consumers cautious of applying for more credit," Nedbank Group said in an emailed note after the data were released.
The rand dropped 0.6% to 9.8309 per dollar at 9:59 am on Monday in Johannesburg, extending its decline of 14% this year.
The broad M3 measure of money supply rose 9.2% in June from a year earlier compared with 9.8% in May, the central bank said. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was 9.7%. – Bloomberg