{"id":28762,"date":"2023-05-17T10:31:51","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T10:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2"},"modified":"2023-05-17T11:44:05","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T11:44:05","slug":"economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2","title":{"rendered":"Economy to shrink 5.7 percent: Central Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The Central Bank\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has said the domestic economy is projected to contract by 5.7 percent in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe output contraction is expected to be led by a decline in economic activity in the textiles and clothing industry (-25.4 percent), construction industry (-20.9 percent) and mining industry (-27.6 percent)\u201d, said MPC in a statement.<\/p>\n

In the medium-term, the economy is projected to recover gradually and grow at an average growth rate of 5.1 percent over the period 2021-2022. \u201cThe growth recovery is conditional on developments related to COVID-19 containment,\u201d the Bank said.<\/p>\n

MPC said since their May 22 meeting they have observed that the outbreak of COVID-19 keeps on devastating communities, disrupting economic activities in many counties of the world, especially in major and developing economies.<\/p>\n

MPC said although Lesotho was the last country to register a confirmed cases on the continent, the numbers of infections are rising exponentially and threatening to put pressure on the health system.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, fatalities have also started to pick up. Indications are that the worst of the pandemic is still ahead\u201d.<\/p>\n

Although there is an economic decline in the domestic economy, the CBL acted timeously to contain the effects of the COVID-19 shock and maintain macroeconomic stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CBL has continued to emphasize that preserving adequate reserves to guarantee the peg is of paramount importance, given the fixed exchange rate\u2019s role as the key anchor of macroeconomic stability.<\/p>\n

\u201d Within the constraints of the exchange rate peg, the Bank has taken various measures to support the economy. These include cutting its policy rate from 6.25 percent in March to 3.75 percent in May 2020.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the Bank also postponed the implementation of Basel II.5 to avoid associated rise in capital requirements, and to allow banks to strengthen their balance sheets.<\/p>\n

Again, commercial banks have been directed to consider relief measures, including payment holidays of up to three months, for previously under performing borrowers affected by the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n

Also, insurance companies have been directed to offer three-month premium holidays, continue claims processing, and allow three-month delay in policy renewals.<\/p>\n

The CBL has also encouraged the use of mobile money, including negotiating fee reductions with mobile network operators and raising prudential limits on transactions.<\/p>\n

According to MPC, general consensus is that a strong global economic recovery will partly depend on how soon a vaccine for the virus can be found and made widely available and how quickly and safely countries are able to resume economic activity.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Central Bank\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has said the domestic economy is projected to contract by 5.7 percent in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. \u201cThe output contraction is expected to be led by a decline in economic activity in the textiles and clothing industry (-25.4 percent), construction industry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":28760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[233,246,686,245],"class_list":["post-28762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-economy","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nEconomy to shrink 5.7 percent: Central Bank - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Central Bank\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has said the domestic economy is projected to contract by 5.7 percent ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Economy to shrink 5.7 percent: Central Bank\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Central Bank\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has said the domestic economy is projected to contract by 5.7 percent ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-17T10:31:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-17T11:44:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/05\/postQueueImg_1684303428.72.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Economy to shrink 5.7 percent: Central Bank\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-17T10:31:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-17T11:44:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2\"},\"wordCount\":436,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/05\/postQueueImg_1684303428.72.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"economy\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economy-to-shrink-5-7-percent-central-bank-2\",\"name\":\"Economy to shrink 5.7 percent: Central Bank - 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