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Cape Town - Statistics South Africa announced on Wednesday that the country's annual consumer price index (CPI) accelerated to 6.4% in October 2016. The consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.5% month-on-month (m/m) in October 2016.
This rate was 0.3 of a percentage point higher than the corresponding annual rate of 6.1% in September 2016, and higher than the 6.2% analysts expected. On average, prices increased by 0.5% between September 2016 and October 2016.
Economist polled by Reuters expected the annual inflation rate to climb to 6.2%. "We continue to strongly believe that inflation will drop off early next year, allowing for mild rate cuts to start around May," said RMB.
In headline annual consumer price inflation, food and non-alcoholic beverages increased from 1.7 percentage points in September to 1.8 percentage points in October. The index increased by 11.7% year-on-year (y/y).
Transport increased from 0.6 of a percentage point in September to 0.7 of a percentage point in October. The index increased by 4.3% y/y. Miscellaneous goods and services increased from 1.1 percentage points in September to 1.2 percentage points in October. The index increased by 7.5% y/y.
Housing and utilities decreased from 1.4 percentage points in September to 1.3 percentage points in October. The index increased by 5.4% y/y.
Looking at contributions to monthly consumer price inflation, food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 0.1 of a percentage point in October. The index increased by 0.9% m/m. Transport contributed 0.2 of a percentage point in October, mainly due to a 44 cents per litre increase in the petrol price. The index increased by 1.1% m/m.
Miscellaneous goods and services contributed 0.1 of a percentage point in October. The index increased by 0.4% m/m.
In October the CPI for goods increased by 7.1% y/y (up from 6.6% in September), and the CPI for services increased by 5.8% y/y (up from 5.6% in September).
Provincial annual inflation rates ranged from 5.7% in Northern Cape to 8.2% in Limpopo.
