Senziwe Matshela
Consumer price inflation climbed from 4.8% in August 2023 to 5.4% in September 2023, according to data issued by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).
With inflation notably increasing by 0.6% in September, consumers are facing further price pressure.
The main forces behind the development of inflation derived from non-alcoholic beverages, food, transportation, and other non-essential goods and services.
The impact of avian flu on prices for products related to poultry will require careful and close monitoring, according to Stats SA. An update on this will be provided by the October CPI.
“This was partly due to base effects because of the fact that we obviously saw inflation falling a year ago but also, from the large fuel price we saw in the month of September which saw the petrol price rising by R1.71 per litre. Looking forward, the South African Reserve Bank at the Monetary Policy Review said that the interest rate is at a sufficient level to bring inflation down next year, which implies that there shouldn’t be further interest rate hikes and we concur with that. In fact, we believe that inflation will fall from above 5% to next year towards 4.6% as an average for the year”, says Annabel Bishop. The Economist strongly asserts that increment in petrol pricing should also be ranking with the other major contributing factors in the rise of inflation.
Additionally, Stats SA noted in a release the following increases:
- Producers of poultry-related products had to increase prices as a result of culling birds owing to the avian flu pandemic, resulting in an average increase in meat prices of 0.6%, raising the yearly rate to 3.8%.
- The price of eggs increased by 0.3% per month in September after declining by 0.4% in August.
- Some examples of this are fresh whole chicken (up 2.2%), fresh chicken pieces (up 2.2%), and non-IQF chicken portions (up 1.9%).
The impact of avian flu on prices for products related to poultry will require careful and close monitoring, according to Stats SA. An update on this will be provided by the October .
