At its meeting on August 1, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) maintained the Bank Rate at 9.5 percent. While short-term price developments, including a revised forecast for inflation in South Africa and higher food prices, imply that inflation will be higher than the objective range of 3 - 6 percent, the medium-term outlook remains more positive and it is anticipated that inflation will converge on the objective range in the second half of 2012.