Consumer inflation eases to 6.3%

Cape Town - South Africa's annual consumer price inflation was 6.3% in February 2017, down from 6.6% in January 2017, Statistics South Africa announced on Wednesday.

The consumer price index went up by 1.1% month-on-month (m/m) in February 2017.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased from 1.9 percentage points in January to 1.7 percentage points in February. The index increased by 9.9% year-on-year (y/y).

Household contents and services decreased from 0.2 of a percentage point in January to 0.1 percentage point in February. The index increased by 3.4% y/y.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 0.1 of a percentage point in February. The index increased by 0.7% m/m.

Health contributed 0.1 of a percentage point in February. The index increased by 3.8% m/m.

Transport contributed 0.1 of a percentage point in February, mainly due to a 29 cents per litre hike in the petrol price. The index increased by 0.9% m/m.

Miscellaneous goods and services contributed 0.7 of a percentage point in February, mainly due to a 9.8% increase in health insurance. The index increased by 5.0% m/m.

In February the CPI for goods increased by 7.1% y/y (down from 7.6% in January), and the CPI for services increased by 5,6% y/y (down from 5,7% in January).

Provincial annual inflation rates ranged from 5.1% in Northern Cape to 7.3% in Western Cape.

                           Source: Statistics South Africa