The South African Reserve Bank’s leading business cycle indicator fell by 0.9% in July compared with June, the bank said on Tuesday.
Six out of 10 components — including business confidence index and average hours worked per factory worker — decreased, suggesting the slow pace of growth seen in the second quarter continued at the start of the third quarter.
GDP growth slowed sharply to 1.3% in the second quarter and Reserve Bank chief economist Monde Mnyande said last week the third quarter probably did not get off to a good start.
The Reserve Bank’s leading indicator is a forward looking index that collates data such as job advertisements and volume of manufacturing orders to gauge the economic outlook.
The central bank has left its repo rate steady at 5.5% this year, after reducing it by 650 basis points between November 2008 and November 2010 and the market expects interest rates will remain steady for longer. — Reuters