JOHANNESBURG, April 17 (Reuters) - The South African
rand gained against the dollar in early trade on Monday as the
U.S. currency slipped on global markets , with local
investors' focus on inflation data this week.
At 0700 GMT, the rand traded at 18.0275 against the
dollar, about 0.2% stronger than its closing level on Friday.
There are no major South African economic data releases on
Monday, so the rand is likely to track dollar moves.
Analysts are looking to the March consumer price index (CPI)
to gauge the success of the South African Reserve Bank's
interest rate hikes in taming price pressures.
March CPI will be released at 0800 GMT on
Wednesday, with February retail sales due at 1100
GMT the same day.
The worst power cuts on record mean the prospects for growth
in Africa's most industrialised economy this year are bleak.
But in an interview with Reuters on Friday, Finance Minister
Enoch Godongwana ruled out the chances of a recession this year.
Godongwana also reaffirmed his stance that the government
would not provide further bailouts to struggling state power
company Eskom despite the new electricity minister saying the
country should not shy away from spending to fix the crisis.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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