Consumer inflation for May hit 6.5%, breaching the upper limit of the Reserve Bank’s target range of 4% to 6%, Fin24 reports.
The latest inflation data was released by Stats SA yesterday.
Fin24 notes that the latest figure is the highest since January 2017, when inflation was 6.6%.
‘Stats SA shows that the uptick, from 5.9% recorded in April, was mainly driven by increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing and utilities, transport and miscellaneous goods and services,’ the news report says.
Patrick Kelly, Stats SA’s chief director of price statistics, explained that prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages jumped by 2.1% between April and May. This was the largest increase since February 2016, when South Africa was experiencing the effects of a drought.
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