Annual inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), was 3.2% in July, according to Stats SA. On a monthly basis, prices had increased by 1.3%.
The main drivers of annual inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages (a year-on-year increase of 4.3%), housing and utilities (3.2%), and miscellaneous goods and services (6.7%).
Annual inflation a month earlier, in June, was 2.2%.
July’s figure was the first time since April that annual inflation was in the South African Reserve Bank’s target band of between three and six percent.
Inflationary pressures have likely been dampened because of reduced consumer demand as a result of South Africa’s lockdown, widely considered one of the world’s harshest.