Consumer inflation in South Africa moderated slightly in November to a 5-month low despite the continued rise in the cost of food, transport and eating out.
Data from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) today showed that headline inflation cooled slightly to 7.4% year-on-year in November from 7.6% in October.
This was the lowest reading since June, and was in line with market forecasts.
Stats SA said the three categories with the highest annual inflation rates in November were transport, food & non-alcoholic beverages, and hotels and restaurants.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation climbed to 12.5% in November from 12.0% in October, Stats SA chief director for price statistics Patrick Kelly said.
He said this represented the seventh consecutive month of accelerating price inflation.
“This rising trend is mainly driven by inflation in bread and cereals, which reached an annual rate of 19.9% in November, up from 19.5% in October, and notably higher than the modest 2.3% recorded in November 2021,” Kelly added.
“The annual rate for meat was 10.5% in November, unchanged from October. Prices of milk, eggs and cheese products rose by 10.9% in the 12 months to November, slightly higher than the 10.5% rate recorded in October. Coffee whitener increased by 4.6% between October and November and full cream long life milk by 2.4%.
“The annual rate of change for the oils and fats index declined for the third consecutive month, decreasing to 24.8% from 25.7% in October. The average price for a 750 ml bottle of sunflower oil was R38,12 in November, lower than the peak of R45,33 recorded in July.”
Data from Stats SA also showed that the transport index recorded its fourth consecutive month of disinflation, with the annual rate declining to 15.3% in November from 17.1% in October.
This was largely the result of falling fuel prices in recent months, with annual inflation reaching 25.3% in November compared with 30.1% in October.
However, fuel prices increased by 3.2% between October and November — although this was a smaller rise than the 7.1% jump between October and November 2021.
Prices charged by restaurants and hotels increased by 7.9% in the year to November.
On a month-on-month basis, Stats SA said consumer prices were up by 0.3% in November following a 0.4% rise in October, and slightly above market forecasts of a 0.2% increase.
BUSINESS REPORT