Source: Ed Stoddard, Busniess Maverick, 20 January 2021, photo credit: The Indian Express
South Africa’s consumer inflation rate averaged 3.3% in 2020, the lowest since 2004, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. That is food for thought for the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, which will announce its decision on interest rates on Thursday.
In December, the CPI rate slowed to 3.1% from 3.2% in November, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said. That is almost at the bottom of the South African Reserve Bank’s mandated inflation target of between 3% and 6%. The average inflation rate for the year was 3.3%, the lowest since 2004, when it was 1.4%. Before that, you have to go back to the Woodstock era to find a lower average. That would be 1969, when it averaged 3.0%.
One point of concern for the Monetary Policy Committee(MPC) will be food price inflation, which accelerated to 6% in December from 5.8%. But that is expected to be contained later in 2021 on expectations of a bumper maize harvest.
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The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) coordinates industry interventions and collaboratively manages risks in the value chain to enable the sustainability and profitability of pork producers in South Africa.
