Inflation hits new 13-year high
Annual consumer inflation reached its highest level in 13 years, increasing to 7.8% in July from 7.4% in June. The increase was in line with economists' forecasts.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 1.5% between June and July this year. According to Statistics SA, this was only the fourth time since 2008 that the monthly increase was 1.5% or higher.
Annual food inflation rose by 9.7% in July, from 8.6% in June. Bread and cereals prices were 13.7% higher than a year ago. Between June and July, there were large monthly price hikes reported in a range of products, including, maize meal (4.2%), cake flour (6.3%), macaroni (5.0%) and white bread (2.8%). But rice prices fell by more than 3%.
Oils and fats saw the biggest price hikes - up 36% in July from a year ago.
In July, fuel prices were hiked by more than 10%. This hit transport prices in particular, with taxi fares up 9% in a single month. Taxi fares were 16% higher than a year ago. Petrol is 56% more expensive than it was a year ago.
The latest consumer inflation rate reflects the annual increase in municipality service tariffs, which are adjusted in July every year.
Electricity tariffs increased on average by 7.5% - which is lower than last year’s rise of 13.8% but higher than the 2020 increase of 6.3%, Statistics SA reports.
But services inflation (+4.2%) and durable goods prices (+4.8%) remained much cooler than non-durable goods inflation - mostly driven by food - which is now at 14.4%.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation