Mozambique’s central bank reduced its benchmark lending rate on Friday by 150 basis points to 19.5 from 21 percent, APA reported on Friday.
A media release from the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (CPMO), which met in Maputo in the morning for its last meeting of the year, said it reduced the rates because of the fall in the inflation rate.
“The annual inflation rate hit almost 27 per cent in November 2016, and based on the consumer price indices of the three largest cities of Maputo, Nampula and Beira, inflation from January to November this year was only 7.15 per cent.
“The projection for 2018 is that there will be single digit inflation in the year”, announced a media release seen by APA on Friday.
CPMO added: “The slowdown in inflation is taking place in an environment where the Mozambican economy is performing moderately”.
According to the financial regulator, the annual GDP growth rate in the third quarter of this year was only 2.9 per cent, well below the average of seven per cent observed in the eight years prior to the crisis of 2016.
