Sustained higher oil prices resulting from conflict in the Middle East may fuel inflation in South Africa, though the buffers built by the government should help keep its debt-consolidation plans on track, the finance minister said.
The price of Brent crude has jumped almost 16% this week as shipping flows ground to a halt in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits.
“South Africa is a price taker” when it comes to petroleum imports, Enoch Godongwana said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
“That will have an inflationary impact for us. So, the war is worrying.”
REUTERS
