Namibia's central bank left its main interest rate unchanged on Wednesday after domestic inflationary pressures eased since its last monetary policy meeting.

The southern African country's repo rate has been at 7.75% since June 2023.

Namibia's inflation fell to 4.5% in annual terms in March from 5.0% in February.

In a statement accompanying the decision, Bank of Namibia Governor Johannes !Gawaxab said the recent deceleration in inflation was mostly driven by food and transport.

The central bank said it saw inflation averaging 4.9% in 2024, up 0.1 percentage point from its forecast given in February.

"The slight upward adjustment is on account of persistent geopolitical tensions which could potentially induce speculative spikes in oil prices, and uncertain rainfall conditions," the governor said.

The Namibian dollar is pegged to neighbouring South Africa's rand and the central bank tries to safeguard the link between the two currencies. (Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Alexander Winning)