South Africa
Consumer inflation eases to 3.1% in August─── 11:34 Wed, 30 Sep 2020
Headline consumer inflation eased to 3.1% in August – down from 3.2% the previous month.
This falls comfortably within the Reserve Bank’s target range of 3 to 6%.
Statistics South Africa’s Patrick Kelly says food and transport were the main drivers of consumer inflation.
“Out of these, transport was the main contributor following a 1% rise in fuel prices. Annual fuel and non-alcoholic beverages inflation hit a 7-month low in August at 3.9%, down from 4.3% in July.”
The price of alcoholic beverages saw an increase of nearly 3% in July.
“Big monthly increases in whiskey and wine prices put annual inflation for alcoholic beverages to a lockdown high of 2.9%,” adds Kelly.
Measured on a month-to-month basis Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 0.2% in July, slightly lower than the average of 0.4% over the past three months.
