SA inflation rises for 2nd month

According to data from Statistics South Africa, South Africa’s headline consumer inflation increased for the second consecutive month in March, rising to 7.1% year on year from 7.0% in February as reported by Reuters.

This was higher than the 6.9% predicted by analysts polled by Reuters. On a month-on-month basis, consumer inflation rose to 1.0% from 0.7%. Inflation has been persistently high in South Africa’s most industrialized economy since reaching a peak in July 2022 at 7.8%, leading to a series of interest rate hikes by the central bank.

At its last meeting in March, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) surprised analysts by raising interest rates by a larger-than-expected 50 basis points. The SARB targets inflation between 3% and 6%. As a result, the year-on-year core inflation, excluding food, non-alcoholic beverages, fuel, and energy prices, remained at 5.2% in March compared to February, while the month-on-month core inflation was unchanged at 0.8%.

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