Inflation decreases for the first time in months

South Africa’s annual Inflation rate cooled for the first time in months in April.

StatsSA announced today that annual consumer price inflation was 6.8% in April 2023, down from 7.1% in March 2023. April inflation is the lowest the country has seen since May 2022 and the first time the rate has decreased month-on-month since January 2023.

According to StatsSA, the monthly change in the consumer price index was 0.4% in April 2023.

However, the inflation rate remains outside the South African Reserve Bank’s target range of 3% to 6%.

Core inflation, which excludes food and non-alcoholic beverages and fuel and energy, also remained high at 5.3%.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages; housing and utilities; transport; and miscellaneous goods and services were the main contributors to the 6.8% annual inflation rate.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 13.9% year-on-year and contributed 2.4 percentage points to the total CPI annual rate.

Housing and utilities increased by 4.1% year-on-year, while transport increased by 7.6% year-on-year.

In April, the annual inflation rate for goods was 9.0%, down from 9.4% in March. The annual inflation rate for services was 4.7%, up from 4.5% in March.