South Africa’s inflation dips in August after drop in fuel price

South Africa’s inflation dropped to 7.6% in August, from 7,8% in July, largely due to lower fuel prices.

Statistics SA (Stats SA) on Wednesday said the monthly increase in the consumer price index (CPI) was 0.2%, the lowest reading since January 2022.

The decrease in fuel prices in August led to lower costs for the general transport industry.

Food prices

The price of food, however, continued to climb. The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) was 11.3% higher in August compared to the year before.

Stats SA said nine of the 11 food and NAB categories saw an annual inflation rate above 8% in August.

“Bread and cereals registered an increase of 3.1% between July and August, pushing the annual rate from 13.7% to 17.8%. Maize meal increased by 4.8% from July, taking the annual rate to 29.1%. Brown bread registered a monthly rise of 2.2% and cake flour 3.9%,” it said in a statement.

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Prices for milk, eggs and cheese also increased by 2.1% between July and August.

“Products with higher than average monthly increases include cheddar cheese (3.1%), low fat milk (2.9%) and full cream milk (2.6%).”

Meat

Meat inflation, however, eased slightly from 9.4% in July to 9.2% in August. The annual inflation for meat is still above 8% since May 2021.

The price of oils and fats also kept rising, reaching another annual high of 37.6% in August, up from 36.2% in July. The monthly rate of 1.1% in August, however, has slowed from its peak of 10.1% in May.

Tea and coffee

The prices of hot beverages increased sharply, reaching their highest annual rate (11.8%) since April 2017. This was largely due to monthly increases in rooibos tea (7.6%) and instant coffee (3.9%).

Detergents

Household cleaning products are also burning a hole in the pockets of South Africans, increasing by 23.4% over the past year.

“Washing powder is 26.2% more expensive than a year ago. Laundry soap will set you back an additional 33.9% compared with August last year, and the price of dishwashing liquid has climbed by 13.6% over the same period.”

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