Namibia's central bank kept its repo rate on hold at 6.75% to safeguard the level of foreign reserves and maintain the currency peg with the South African rand.

International reserves stood at 28.1 billion Namibian dollars as of May 31, down by 2.6 billion dollars on a monthly basis, the Bank of Namibia noted. The current balance is expected to cover 4.7 months of imports of goods and services.

The reserve level is enough to sustain the currency peg between the Namibian dollar and the South African rand, but it is relatively low compared to Namibia's peers in the region.

Inflation edged up to 3.6% month over month in April from 3.5% in the previous month. The bank expects inflation to average about 4% in 2018.

The central bank also expects Namibia's economy to perform slightly better this year, compared to 2017.

As of June 12, US$1 was equivalent to 13.22 Namibian dollars.