South Africans should count themselves lucky the interest rate was kept unchanged yesterday. Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago said in Pretoria that the monetary policy committee had decided to keep the repo rate at 5.75% and the prime lending rate at 9.25% "for now".Despite inflation reaching its lowest level in four years last month, Kganyago said the best he could do at the moment was to "pause" interest rate increases.The last rate hike was in September, but the lower inflation rate has in recent months given Kganyago "scope" to keep the repo rate at 5.75%. But "this scope has now narrowed", he said.Despite discussing an increase, the committee decided "unanimously" to keep rates unchanged.Consumer inflation, Statistics SA announced, was 3.9% in February. "This is likely the low point for the current cycle," the governor said.Inflation is now expected to average 4.8% this year, compared to the 3.8% forecast previously.This coincides with an increase in crude oil prices, from a low of $45 a barrel earlier this year to about $58 yesterday.The Bank thinks inflation will climb next year, averaging 5.9% for 2016 - very close to the upper end of the 3% to 6% target range.It could even break through 6%, but that would be temporary, according to Kganyago, and due to "exogenous factors".Kganyago warned two months ago that even a moderate increase in oil prices could reverse the "favourable inflation trajectory".Fuel prices at South African pumps will likely increase by about R1.60 a litre for petrol and about R1.20 for diesel next month.The Department of Energy is set to announce the fuel price adjustment today.Although the Central Energy Fund's daily update suggests that motorists should pay about 80c a litre more for petrol and 40c more for diesel, the National Treasury will add another 80.5c to each litre from next Wednesday, as announced in the finance minister's budget speech last month.Whereas rising oil prices will affect inflation this year, the rand's declining buying power will be the biggest contributor next year.The currency had been affected by issues relating to Eskom and the country's weak growth outlook, said Kganyago.The rand weakened to R12.52 to the US dollar last week.Kganyago said that the Reserve Bank's economic growth outlook for this year remained at 2.2%, but it cut its forecast for next year to 2.3% from 2.4%...