SOUTH Africa’s inflation rate moved closer to the top of the central bank’s target range in December, highlighting the difficult choice between taming price growth and supporting a sluggish economy policy makers will face when deciding on interest rates next week.
The annual inflation rate rose to a near five-year high of 5.9%, compared with 5.5% in November, Statistics South Africa said Wednesday in a statement on its website.
The median of 19 economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 5.7%.
The December reading brought the average inflation rate for 2021 to 4.5%, matching the central bank’s estimate published at its November monetary policy committee meeting.
While the South African Reserve Bank officially targets price growth in a band of 3% to 6%, its MPC prefers to anchor expectations close to the midpoint of the range. Inflation, stoked by near record-high fuel prices and rising food costs, has now breached
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