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WINDHOEK, June 14 (Reuters) - Namibia's central bank on Wednesday raised its main lending rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 7.75%, tightening policy again to contain inflation and safeguard the one-to-one link between the Namibian dollar and South African rand.
The move followed two 25 bps hikes at previous policy meetings in April and February.
Annual inflation stood at 6.3% last month, up from 6.1% in April, with food and non-alcoholic beverages among major contributors, data from the statistics agency showed on Tuesday.
In May, neighbouring South Africa
hiked its policy rate
by 50 bps to 8.25% as it raised its inflation forecasts for this year and next.
Bank of Namibia Governor Johannes !Gawaxab said on Wednesday that the bank expected real gross domestic product growth to slow down to 3% this year from 4.6% in 2022.
He said the bank had opted for a 50 bps hike this time around rather than 75 bps so as to support the economy.
(Reporting by Nyasha Nyaungwa; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Alexander Winning)