Annual consumer price inflation was 5.1% in June 2024, down from 5.2% in May 2024
The annual change in consumer price inflation (CPI) was 5.1% in June, a slight decrease from 5.2% in May, according to the latest data released by Stats SA on Wednesday. The CPI increased by 0.1% month-on-month in June. For the past 10 months, inflation has consistently stayed within the 5% to 6% range.
Key contributors to inflation
The main drivers of the 5.1% annual inflation rate were:
- Housing and utilities: Increased by 5.5% year-on-year, contributing 1.3 percentage points.
- Miscellaneous goods and services: Rose by 7.0% year-on-year, contributing 1.0 percentage point.
- Food and non-alcoholic beverages (NAB): Up by 4.6% year-on-year, contributing 0.9 percentage points.
- Transport: Increased by 5.5% year-on-year, contributing 0.8 percentage points.
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Goods and services inflation
In June, the annual inflation rate for goods was 5.5%, slightly down from 5.7% in May. Services inflation decreased to 4.6% from 4.7% in the same period.
After remaining steady at 4.7% in April and May, the annual rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages edged down to 4.6% in June. This is the lowest rate since September 2020, when it was 3.8%. The decline comes after peaking at 14.0% in March 2023.
Several categories within food and NAB saw lower annual rates in June, including sugar, sweets and desserts; vegetables; fruit; milk, eggs and cheese; and fish. However, inflation increased for hot beverages, bread and cereals, oils and fats, cold beverages and meat.
READ: Good news for food prices, but not for transport and booze as inflation holds steady at 5.2%
Bread and cereals: Annual inflation rose to 5.2% in June from 3.9% in May, marking the first increase in 14 months. Monthly inflation was 1.5%, with notable rises for maize products such as maize meal (up 3.3%) and samp (up 3.0%).
The producer price index (PPI) for maize products showed a 7.2% monthly increase (4.6% annual) in May, indicating widespread inflation for maize-based products.
Milk, eggs and cheese
This category has seen six months of slower inflation, with the rate at 7.3% in June, down from 14.5% in December 2023. Egg inflation dropped to 20.4%, marking its seventh consecutive month of decline.
Housing and utilities recorded an annual inflation rate of 5.5% in June, down from 5.8% in May. Housing rentals, surveyed quarterly, increased by 0.8% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter. Imputed rentals edged up by 0.7% over the same period, with townhouses showing the highest quarterly changes.
Transport inflation cooled to 5.5% in June from 6.3% in May. New vehicle inflation slowed to 5.2% from a high of 8.4% in September 2023. According to naamsa, demand for new passenger vehicles declined by 9.0% year-on-year in June. Inflation for used vehicles dropped to 3.0% from 3.7% in May. Fuel prices fell by 4.6% between May and June, bringing the annual fuel inflation rate down to 7.6% from 9.3%.
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