Lesetja Kganyago, governor of South Africa’s central bank (SARB), poses for a photograph following a Bloomberg Television interview on the opening day of the 28th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. The World Economic Forum on Africa meeting runs from 4-6 September. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

JOHANNESBURG, July 21 (Reuters) – South Africa’s central bank raised its main lending rate more than expected on Thursday, by 75 basis points to 5.50%.

This was the fifth meeting in a row that the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB’s) monetary policy committee has raised rates to try to keep a lid on inflation.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 50 basis point increase.

The SARB has now hiked rates by a cumulative 200 basis points since November last year in a bid to tame inflation.

But June inflation quickened to a 13-year high of 7.4% year on year from 6.5% in May, moving further from the bank’s 3%-6% target range.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning, Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, Bhargav Acharya and Promit Mukherjee Editing by James Macharia Chege)

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