A slight increase in SA consumer price inflation in May

The consumer price inflation (CPI) was 4.5% in May this year, a slight increase from 4.4% in April, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has said.

Stats SA said the rate has remained below the 6% monetary policy ceiling since April 2017, during which time inflation has averaged 4,7%.

The monthly increase of 0.3% was mainly due to the 3.3% increase in the fuel price in May, the statistics agency said.

In May, the inland price of 95 octane petrol was R16.67 and diesel was R16.40.

Fuel prices have increased by 11.6% over the past 12 months, Stats SA said.

“A noticeable trend over this part of 2019 has been the uptick in the prices of some basic foodstuffs,” Stats SA said.

Of the 34 products in the CPI basket that comprise the minimum food requirements for poverty analysis purposes, 20 show an annual increase above the average food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation rate of 3.2%, the agency said.

“Amongst these, 11 showed an increase between April and May of more than the average food increase of 0.3%.”

Maize meal registered the highest increase amongst these foodstuffs, which has increased by 11.4% since January this year, with 1.4% of this in May.

Other foodstuffs listed by the agency are:

• Tin fish, excluding tuna, which has annual inflation of 7.4%, was up 1% from April.
• Mageu has increased by 8.5% over the past 12 months, 0.6% of which was in May.
• Cooking oil has increased by 7.3% since May 2018, of which 1.4% was in May this year.
• Fruit juice and potatoes both increased by 7.7% on an annual basis, with a monthly increase for fruit juice at 2.7% and for potatoes at 0.7%.
• Canned fizzy drinks increased by 8.9% since May 2018 and 1% from April 2019

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

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