Zuko Komisa

Consumer inflation dropped to 5.3 percent in March.
According to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), consumer inflation decreased slightly in March from 5.6% in February to 5.3%. This was announced on Wednesday. According Stats SA, South Africa’s food inflation rate is currently “at a three-and-a-half-year low.”
“Education fees are surveyed once a year in March. Overall, education was 6.3% more expensive in 2024 than it was in 2023. This exceeds the 5.7% annual increase in 2023 and is the highest since 2020 when the rate was 6.4%,”
“Inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages slowed to 5.1% in March from 6.1% in February. This is down from its recent peak of 14.0% in March 2023, and is the lowest annual increase since September 2020 when the rate was 3.8%.
“Bread and cereals registered a softer annual print of 5.0% from February’s 6.1%. The rate is substantially lower than the recent high of 21.8% in January 2023. Bread flour, pasta, rusks, maize meal, ready-mix flour and white bread are cheaper than a year ago.
“Meat inflation also cooled in March on the back of lower beef and mutton prices. The annual rate for meat in March was 0.8%, significantly lower than the recent peak of 11.4% in February 2023.
“Annual inflation for sugar, sweets and desserts has remained above the 15.0% level since June 2023. The rate in March 2024 was 17.8%. Products with the most significant annual price increases include brown sugar up 22.0%, white sugar up 20.1%, chocolate slabs up 17.9% and chocolate bars up 15.9%,”
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA)
#Inflation softened to 5,3% in March 2024, from 5,6% in February 2024. Join #StatsSA on @CapeTalk at 11h05 today as we dig deeper into the latest Consumer Price Index figures.
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) April 17, 2024
More here: https://t.co/TyKQ1BHK6h pic.twitter.com/teiGse5CGT
Casey Sprake, Investment Analyst at Fixed Income, Anchor Capital joins Gugulethu Mfuphi on Kaya Biz to talk about this softening of core inflation, which was unsurprising, given the subdued demand in the economy.
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Biz:
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