TUESDAY, 3.00PM
The producer price index fell to an annualised 7,5% in June, 0,9 of a percentage point down on May’s 8,4%, largely as a result of a decrease in the average price of crude oil imports.
Month-on-month, the index fell 0,2% in June, compared to a 0,9% increase in May. Locally produced commodities showed a PPI of 8,5%, 0,4 of a percentage point down from May. Imported commodities showed the biggest drop, with the index falling 2,3 percentage points to 4,1%, with both the local and imported indices benefiting from a 9,5% drop in the average price of imported crude oil.
The latest producer inflation figures bode well for further falls in consumer inflation, and are bound to increase the pressure on Reserve Bank governor Chris Stals for a rate cut. Stals was reported as saying he was looking for three months of consecutive falls in inflation before dropping interest rates.