Africa-Press – South-Africa. Annual consumer price inflation picked up slightly to 4.8% in August from 4.7% in July – the first increase in four months, but in line with economists’ expectations.
After many months of big hikes, some food prices started to fall, but this was not enough to counteract a rise in fuel prices and increases in municipal tariffs, Statistics SA reported.
A 15.3% annual increase in electricity tariffs pushed inflation higher.
“Households [also] paid 9.6% more for water in 2023 after bearing the brunt of an 8.1% rise the year before. Property rates were up by 8.4% following a 4.3% increase in 2022,” Statistics SA said.
Western Cape residents saw the biggest increases in electricity tariffs (+17%) and property rates (+11%). KwaZulu-Natal (+14.2%) and Gauteng (+10%) were hit by the largest water hikes.
Fuel prices also increased by more than 2% between July and August, adding to the hotter inflation number. In September, petrol and diesel prices were hiked by a large margin, which will add to continued inflation pressures. More fuel hikes are expected in October.
But food inflation cooled for a fifth straight month, from 9.9% in July to 8.0% in August.
Several products were cheaper in August compared with July, including beef, white bread, brown bread, eggs, cheddar cheese, fresh full-cream milk maize meal and cereals. Beer (-0.8%) and wine (-0.3%) prices also declined between July and August. However, rice prices increased by 3.4%, and some other food prices continued to remain hot:
The monthly change in the consumer price index (CPI) was 0.3%, down from 0.9% in July.
On Thursday, the monetary policy committee will announce its interest rate decision. A change is not expected.
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