![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Bloomberg-3.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
South African borrowing costs will only be lowered when inflation\u2019s retreat toward the midpoint of the central bank\u2019s target range is sustained, Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago said.<\/p>\n
The bank officially targets price growth in a band of 3% to 6%, though its monetary policy committee prefers to anchor inflation expectations close to the midpoint of that range. It\u2019s responded to the worst global inflation shock in a generation quicker than several of its peers and raised the policy rate by 275 basis points since November.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you see inflation declining back within the target and moving toward 4.5%, which is what we actually aim for, that would be telling you that the interest rate cycle has done its job,\u201d Kganyago said in an interview with Johannesburg-based broadcaster eNCA Tuesday. \u201cIf that is sustained, then it\u2019s time to adjust policy.<\/p>\n
The central bank said in its six-monthly Monetary Policy Review on Oct. 4 that an environment of heightened uncertainty with rising costs and domestic price pressures that have \u201cintensified sharply\u201d means policy makers may still need to raise interest rates to \u201clevels that are consistent with a stable and lower inflation rate.\u201d<\/p>\n