South Africa’s annual inflation rate fell slightly in May, relieving pressure on the country’s central bank to tighten monetary policy further, Dow Jones reported. Inflation fell to an annual rate of 6.1% in May from 6.2% the month before, South Africa’s statistical agency said on Wednesday. The fall could take the pressure off the central bank to raise rates next month and hold them steady to shelter the country’s weak economy. The bank expects an economy contending with the global commodity crash to grow just 0.8% this year following a 1.3% expansion in 2015. The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee left the benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 7% after raising it four times since July as it sought to steer inflation back into its 3% to 6% target, even as it forecast the economy will expand at the slowest pace since a 2009 recession this year. Gross domestic product contracted 1.2% in the three months through March.
