(Corrects third paragraph to show it is 13th consecutive hold, not 12th)
NAIROBI (Reuters) -Kenya’s central bank held its benchmark lending rate at 7.0% on Tuesday, its monetary policy committee said, bucking the trend among other economies in the region.
In a Reuters poll of eight analysts, five predicted a “hold” decision and three had forecast a hike of up to 50 basis points.
Tuesday’s decision was the 13th in a row to keep rates steady, extending a holding pattern which policymakers adopted shortly after the coronavirus crisis reached the East African nation.
Ghana made its biggest-ever interest rate hike last week, while South African policymakers tightened policy shortly after, raising the benchmark rate by 25 basis points.
Inflation expectations in Kenya were well anchored within the government’s target range, policymakers said in a statement, adding they stood ready to take action if the situation changed rapidly.
The Kenyan shilling has come under pressure from the dollar, falling 1.5% so far this year, but it has fared better than the Ghanaian cedi.
Still, the current account deficit could deteriorate to 5.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of this year from 5.6% in February, the central bank of Kenya warned, citing higher international oil prices.
In January, the bank forecast a current account deficit of 5.2% of GDP this year, down from 5.4% of GDP in 2021.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri and George ObulutsaEditing by Edmund Blair and Mark Potter)
