South Africa’s headline consumer inflation ticked higher for the third consecutive month to 3.2% year-on-year in January from 3% in December
South Africa’s headline consumer inflation ticked higher for the third consecutive month to 3.2% year-on-year in January from 3% in December, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.
On a month-on-month basis, prices were up 0.3% in January.
The January inflation data is the first to be published under a reshuffled basket of goods and services, which the statistics agency uses to measure consumer inflation, and updates periodically to better reflect shifts and trends in consumer spending.
The main contributors to the higher annual rate were housing and utilities, which came in at 4.5% and contributed 1.1 percentage points to the headline number, as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages, and restaurants and accommodation services.
The adjusted basket includes 71 new products; while 53 have been removed and 29 reorganised through merging, splitting or reclassification. In total, there are now 391 products in the consumer price index basket, down from 396.
New food products added to the basket include basmati rice, meat bones, meat patties, chicken nuggets and ready-made meals. Items that were removed include ready-mix flour, flavoured milk, frozen potato chips and ground coffee and coffee beans.
Last month, the South African Reserve Bank cut the benchmark repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 7.5%, but warned of an upside risk to the inflation outlook.