S Africa not immune from global financial crisis

---

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 8 (AFP): The economy of South Africa, Africa's economic powerhouse, cannot be immune from the effects of the global financial market crisis, the central bank's monetary policy review committee said last week.
"The volatile and uncertain financial market environment will continue to complicate monetary policy decision-making for some time," the committee said in its bi-annual report.
The bank will, however, continue to focus on medium-term inflation targetting despite the global financial market crisis, it said.
"The main risks to the inflation outlook emanate from the possibility of further electricity price increases, which will be announced next week," said the report.
Petrol, food price increases and the volatile exchange rate are some of the factors contributing to the inflation uncertainty. Since last year, South Africa's inflation of 12 per cent has been hovering above the target range of between 3.0 to 6.0 per cent.