STATISTICS South Africa has published its Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August 2021, with inflation edging higher to 4.9% from 4.6% in July.
This is the fourth consecutive month where the annual increase is higher than the midpoint (4.5%) of the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy target range, the statistics body said.
The primary drivers behind the monthly rise were transport, petrol and food. Some of the largest annual price increases (August 2020 vs August 2021) were recorded for the following goods and services:
- Oils and fats: +21.3%
- Fuel: +19.6%
- Meat: +10.7%
- Electricity and other fuels: +13.9%
- Wine: +6.6%
- Fish: +6%
Petrol and transport
Transport was the most significant contributor to both the annual and monthly CPI readings in August, increasing by 9.9% annually and 2.2% monthly.
Vehicle prices increased at a rate higher than overall inflation across all 16 months from May 2020 to August 2021. In contrast,
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