Kganyago defends Reserve Bank’s focus on inflation

South Africa’s central bank said it will continue using interest rates to curb inflation, and responded to calls for its mandate to explicitly include promoting economic growth and creating jobs by saying monetary policy already targets those indicators. At 6.25%, the Reserve Bank’s repurchase rate is still below long-term levels and in expansionary territory, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said in a speech in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The consequences of the central bank loosening its grip on inflation and falling behind global peers as rates are being normalised would be “too costly,” he said.