The Bank revised its growth outlook for 2014 downwards to 1,4 per cent, as BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  announced after our most recent MPC meeting last week, compared with 1,5 per cent previously. The 2015 and 2016 projections were also downgraded from 2,8 per cent and 3,1 per cent respectively to 2,5 per cent and 2,9 per cent.
Domestic growth prospects remain constrained by short-term and long-term structural supply factors such as strike activity, rising input costs and electricity shortages, as well as slowing consumer demand. Falling commodity prices and weak economic conditions in the country’s major trading partners also add to this subdued outlook.