By Hlengiwe Ndlovu | 2018-07-13

THE country’s annual consumer inflation remained unchanged at 4.8 per cent last month, same as it was the previous month, the Central Bank has confirmed.

Food prices continued to fall on a year-on-year basis, recording a deflation of 1.3 per cent in from a deflation of 0.9 per cent in April.

Food items that recorded annual decreases included ‘cereal products’, ‘oils and fats’, ‘fruits’ and ‘sugar and confectionery products’.

In addition to food, other categories that recorded year-on-year decreases were ‘communication’ and ‘clothing, and footwear, which recorded a deflation of 2.3 and 2.0 per cent, respectively.

offset

The decreases were offset by increases in the price indices for ‘housing and utilities’ and ‘transport’.

The price index for housing and utilities grew by 13.9 per cent in May from 13.3 per cent the previous month.

The increase was largely due to 13 .7 per cent increase in water tariffs effected in May.

increase

Transport inflation, on the other hand, rose by 0.2 of a percentage point to 3.4 per cent in May, largely due to 40 cents per litre increase in fuel prices effected in May 2018.

On month-on-month basis, inflation grew at a lower rate of 0.3 per cent in May compared to a significant increase of 3.6 per cent the previous month.

Notable month-on-month increases in May were observed in the price indices for ‘housing and utilities’, ‘transport’ and ‘clothing and footwear’.

Core inflation, which is measured as the CPI excluding food and non-alcoholic beverages, auto-fuel and energy, remained elevated, recording 7.3 per cent in last month from 7.1 per cent in April.

On month-on-month rates, core inflation grew modestly by 0.4 per cent in May compared to the 4.9 per cent growth recorded the previous month.

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