THURSDAY, 8.00AM
RESERVE BANK governor Chris Stals said yesterday that he hoped to relax monetary policy before the year end, but refused to be drawn on a date.
” The influence of last year’s depreciation (of the rand) is working itself out from the inflation now, so I think all the indicators tell us that we are moving in the right direction.”
He said the money supply rate of change and trade statistics were on the right track, but the Bank would want two of three months of such movements to confirm a definite trend.
He said the timing of an interest rate cut “depends on when all the figures fall into line, and you have to use discretion.” A 13% growth in money supply was high for a country with real economic growth of under 3%.