WINDHOEK, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Bank of Namibia, the central bank, on Wednesday announced that it had cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent.
The Deputy Governor of Bank of Namibia (BoN), Ebson Uanguta said the Monetary policy committee took the decision to lower the rate in order to support domestic economic growth, while maintaining the one-one link between the Namibia Dollar and the South African Rand.
According to Uanguta, activity in the domestic economy remained weak during the first six months of the year relative to the corresponding period in 2016.
"The weak performance was mainly reflected in the construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, as well transport sectors," he added.
However, he said that over the same period a few pockets of improvement in sectors such as mining and communication as well as livestock market, provided some stimulus to the real economy.
Meanwhile, the deputy governor said that the country's inflation rate averaged 7 percent during the first six months, compared to 6.3 percent during the corresponding period in 2016.
"Inflation however slowed from a peak of 8.2 percent in January 2017 to reach 5.4 percent in July 2017. A large part of the slowdown in inflation since the beginning of the year can be attributed to lower food inflation," he said.
