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SARB's Mboweni warns rates may have to rise

South Africa's central bank warned on Thursday 21 September that a large deficit on the country's current account could force interest rates higher.

"If it (current account deficit) persists for a long time it means that down the road the exchange rate is going to be (weak) and a weak exchange rate means the import component of inflation is going to be higher," SARB governor Tito Mboweni said.

"... That means inflation will be higher and that means that interest rates will have to go higher," he added.

"The deficit we are seeing on the current account of the balance of payments should be something of a concern," Mboweni told a business breakfast.

"Part of that imbalance that we are seeing coming through might have been as a result of an exchange rate that might have been out of balance ... that exchange rate is now adjusting to the realities."

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