The National Bank of Angola has cut its benchmark interest rate by 150 basis point to 18% down from 19.5% as inflation dropped again in December 2022.
The central bank Governor, José Massano, said the bank made the decision to cut the interest rate after inflation last month came in below the central bank’s forecast.
According to data from the country’s national institute, the annual inflation rate was 13.86% in December 2022, from as high as 27.66% in January with inflation dropping for 11 consecutive months in the oil rich nation.
The December 2022 rate was also the lowest reading since November of 2015 amid a broadly stable local Kwanza currency and as food prices continued to ease on the back of a strong harvest.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices inched up by 0.87%, the most in seven months, after increasing by 0.82% in the prior month.
Massano added that he expects inflation to drop further in 2023 to the 9% – 11% region. He also expects the economy to grow by 3.3% in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023.
In September 2022, Angola cut its domestic rate by 50 basis points to 19.5% becoming one of the few central banks to be going that direction.
“Today, we have interest rates in Angola above 20%. So those are too high. And if we have room to keep on reducing them, we’ll do it,” Massano said at the time.
The action by the Central Bank of Angola in September 2022 came on the backdrop of the positive inflation data throughout 2022, at a time most African nations were dealing with rising inflation. This performance looks to be sustaining in 2023 while Angola was joined by several nations reporting better inflation numbers in December 2022.
These include:
- Namibia
- Mozambique
- Kenya
- Nigeria
- South Africa
- Uganda
- Ethiopia
- Rwanda
- Tanzania
- Senegal and
- Togo
all which reported a drop in inflation in December 2022.
____________________________________
Follow us on Twitter for the latest posts and updates
Join and interact with our Telegram community
____________________________________
____________________________________
