Inflation continues to cool in South Africa, with June’s consumer price index (CPI) at 5.1%, down 0.1 percentage point from 5.2% in May, according to Statistics South Africa.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation edged lower to 4.6%, a drop from its peak of 14% in March last year. June’s reading is the lowest since September 2020, when the rate was 3.8%.
Hot beverages, however, rose to 16.5%, from 14.2% in May. The change was driven by sharp price increases for drinking chocolate (+3.5%), black tea (+2.7%), instant coffee (+2.2%) and rooibos tea (+1.6%).
The annual rate for bread and cereals increased for the first time in 14 months, with sharp increases for maize meal (+3.3%) and samp (+3%).
Source: StatisticsSA