Consumer Price Inflation goes up by 5.4%
South Africa’s annual inflation rate accelerated for the second successive month to 5.4% in September 2023, up from 4.8% in August and slightly above market forecasts of 5.3%.
Still, it remained comfortably within the South African Reserve Bank (SARB)’s 3%-6% target band. Main upward pressure came from prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (8.1% vs 8% in August) and transportation (4.2% vs -0.8%), of which fuels (1.5% vs -11.7%). Furthermore, housing and utilities prices remained at an elevated 5.5%, in line with the rate in August, primarily due to significant rises in electricity and other fuels tariffs (15.1%) as well as water costs (7.9%). The annual core inflation, which excludes prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, fuel and energy, eased to a 13-month low of 4.5% in September 2023, from 4.8% in the previous month and below market forecasts of 4.7%. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose by 0.6% in September, after a 0.3% increase in August, matching market estimate
This increase is within the South African Reserve Bank’s target range of between 3% and 6%.
Stats SA chief director for price statistics, Patric Kelly: “The CPI increased by 0.6% between August and September, of which 0.4% was contributed by transport. The fuel index increased for a second consecutive month, rising by 7.6% between August and September. The price of inland 95 octane petrol hit a 13-month high of R24.54 in September.”
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