South Africa Keeps Key Lending Rate at 5.5% to Bolster Economic Recovery

South Africa’s central bank kept its benchmark lending rate at a 30-year low to support the recovery in Africa’s biggest economy.

The Monetary Policy Committee left the repurchase rate at 5.5 percent for a seventh consecutive meeting, Governor Gill Marcus said today in a televised press conference from the capital, Pretoria. That was in line with the forecasts of all 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Concerns that Europe’s worsening debt crisis will stifle growth in South Africa have outweighed those about rising prices. Inflation (SACPIYOY) was unchanged at 6.1 percent in December, exceeding the bank’s target for a second month, though lower than economists forecast.

“The MPC maintains a preference for a stable interest rate environment given the conflicting pressures on monetary policy,” Marcus said. “The monetary policy stance is ‘‘accommodative and supportive of the real economy. The outlook for domestic economic growth remains subdued.’’

The European debt crisis threatens to erode growth in a region that buys about a third of South African manufactured exports. South Africa’s government estimates the economy grew 3.1 percent last year, less than half the 7 percent expansion needed to meet a goal to create 5 million new jobs by 2020.

The central bank today cut its growth forecast for this year to 2.8 percent from a previous estimate of 3.3 percent, while projected growth for next year was revised downward to 3.8 percent from 4.2 percent.

No Speedy Resolution

‘‘The primary reason for the worsening domestic growth outlook is the risk of contagion from the persistent crisis in Europe, which shows no sign of a speedy resolution,’’ Marcus said.

Investors have pared bets the central bank will increase interest rates, with the yield on the forward-rate agreement contract due in six months dropping for a third day. The rand was at 7.9373 as of 4:20 p.m. in Johannesburg from 7.9309 before Marcus began speaking.

‘‘It is clear that the bank of late is focused on growth,’’ Arthur Kamp, an economist at Cape Town-based Sanlam Investment Management, said in a telephone interview. ‘‘Rates are likely to remain unchanged this year.’’

Inflation will probably remain outside the bank’s 3 percent to 6 percent target range for 2012, peaking at about 6.6 percent in the second quarter, Marcus said.

Rising Spending

The central bank ‘‘sees the risks to inflation as evenly balanced,’’ Carmen Nel, an economist at Rand Merchant Bank, said by telephone from Johannesburg. ‘‘That doesn’t mean they are not worried about inflation. If they do see demand-led inflation coming through, there is a possibility they may respond by tightening.’’

Pressure to ease interest rates has abated as consumer spending improved. Borrowing (SACEIYOY) by households and businesses rose 6.2 percent in November from the same month last year, the fastest pace since April 2009, the central bank said on Dec. 30. Retail sales rose 6.8 percent in November from a year ago, after expanding 7.5 percent in the previous month, the statistics office said yesterday.

‘‘Christmas trading was above expectation across all divisions with sales growth for December of 17.3 percent,’’ Foschini Group Ltd. (FOS), a Cape Town-based clothing retailer, said yesterday.