October inflation rate went up, says expert

Cape Town – October’s inflation rate most likely increased to 4.9%, according to data from the Inflation Factory.

Stats SA will publish the official Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) figures on Wednesday.

The Inflation Factory’s (TIF) real time CPI Index stood at 116.7 at the end of October, implying year-on-year inflation of 4.9% and month-on-month inflation of 0.5%.

In its monthly newsletter, TIF focused on the effect the depreciation of the rand had on the inflation of imported books to South Africa.

The rand depreciated by more than 20% against the dollar and pound over the last year, while the cost of printed books increased by 50%, which is 10 times the inflation rate, the TIF said.

“It is obvious that this is driven by the deteriorating exchange rate, but even at a 20% depreciation, book prices have massively outpaced even this important driver of their cost,” it said.

South Africa imports about R2.5bn worth of books each year, mostly (52%) from the UK.  

GRAPH: Inflation of book imports to SA

GRAPH: South African Imports of Printed Books by Country, 2013

Source: The Inflation Factory