A woman uses a trolley as she shops at a Pick n Pay store at the Dobson Point Shopping Centre, in Soweto, South Africa, March 19, 2024. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File photo

JOHANNESBURG, April 17 (Reuters) – South Africa’s headline consumer inflation fell to 5.3% year on year in March from 5.6% in February ZACPIY=ECI, statistics agency data showed on Wednesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast that inflation would slow to 5.4% in annual terms.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) kept its main interest rate unchanged at 8.25% ZAREPO=ECI last month, saying its policy stance needed to remain restrictive to tackle higher inflation expectations.

It expects headline inflation to reach the midpoint of its target range of 4.5% only near the end of 2025.

SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago told Reuters earlier in April that South African policymakers were in discussions to lower the bank’s current inflation target range of between 3% and 6% to bring it more in line with peers.

On a month-on-month basis, inflation was at 0.8% in March compared to 1.0% a month before, Statistics South Africa said.

This is a developing story…

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(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Alexander Winning)