From next year South Africa could switch to targeting CPI, not CPIX inflation, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel told this week's Financial Mail.

"It will be CPI but the modalities and details still have to be worked out. I can't say whether the target range will change, but we believe that... a range of three to six percent still offers a lot of room to benefit economic growth," he told the magazine.

Manuel also said it was unlikely that South Africa would find itself in a recession.

"Certainly the credit squeeze is still very much in evidence in the US with the Fed rapidly running out of firepower to combat an economic downturn. All this considered, the SA economy has had it pretty good," he told the magazine.

"Averaging out growth for the first two quarters of this year, it is highly unlikely that the SA economy will experience recession."

Sapa