The Monetary Policy of the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) held the 77th meeting in Maseru yesterday to report on the global, regional and domestic economic conditions in the first quarter of 2019.

Speaking during the event the Central Bank of Lesotho’s Governor Dr Ret’selisitsoe Matlanyane said in pursuit of the Central Bank of Lesotho’s primary mandate of maintaining price stability, the committee considered several factors and deliberated on them to come to the decisions it has taken.

She said these factors include international, regional and domestic economic development and financial market conditions and that the factors helped them to determine appropriate monetary policy action that the bank wishes to adopt.

Dr Matlanyane said the global economic outlook for 2019 has remained moderate in line with the slowdown in growth momentum in most of the advanced economies in the first quarter of 2019.

She further said output in the global economy increased moderately in advanced economies, except in the Europe area where it remained unchanged from the previous quarter.

In the regional economies she said South Africa’s economy is anticipated to have decelerated in the first quarter of 2019, due to factors including electricity disruptions experienced during the quarter, which negatively impacted on many production sectors.

In Lesotho she said the domestic economic activity increased marginally in March, relative to in February 2019.