Namibia's central bank cut its main interest rate for the third meeting in a row on Wednesday, as inflation continued to tick lower in the southern African country.

The Bank of Namibia reduced its repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.00% after similar-sized cuts in October and August.

The decision comes a day after vote results showed Namibia had elected Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah from the ruling SWAPO party as its next president and first female leader.

Annual inflation in Namibia fell to 3.0% in October from 3.4% in September.

"The disinflationary trend is attributed to the sustained lower average food inflation and, most recently, the deceleration in transport inflation," the bank said in a statement.

The decision to lower the repo rate also took into account the need to support the domestic economy, an adequate level of foreign reserves and the policy rate differential with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the bank said.

The SARB also cut its key rate by 25 basis points last month.

Namibia's central bank raised its 2024 economic growth forecast to 3.5% from the 3.1% projection given at its last monetary policy meeting, attributing the change to a stronger-than-expected performance in gold mining.

The average inflation forecast for this year was maintained at 4.3%.