Growth in credit demand in South Africa’s private sector slowed sharply in May as companies curbed their borrowing, adding weight to arguments for cutting interest rates further.
The central bank left the repo rate unchanged at 7,5% last week on concerns about inflation and signs that an economic downturn may be nearing its end.
South African Reserve Bank data on Tuesday showed growth in demand for credit in the private sector slowed to 5,7% year-on-year in May, compared with a revised 8,47% in April.
During the same period, growth in the broadly defined M3 measure of money supply braked to 7,31%, compared with a revised 8,49% previously.
A Reuters poll forecast private sector credit growth would come in at 8% in May, while the annual growth in M3 was also seen at 8%.
”It is much slower than we expected,” said Fanie Joubert, economist at Efficient Group. ”Most of the decline must have been to companies … companies need to take on less short-term credit.”
Local demand has fallen in line with global trends and local companies are trying to cut their borrowing in an uncertain economic environment.
Another economist said the data added weight to the argument to cut interest rates further.
”The Reserve Bank must be quite worried because this shows inactivity in the economy and the need to cut rates further,” said Colen Garrow, economist at Brait. — Reuters