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Annual consumer price inflation was 5.2% in April 2024, down from 5.3% in March. Statistics South Africa said CPI increased by 0.3 in April.
Chief Director for Price Statistics, Patrick Kelley, said most food and non-alcoholic beverages subcategories, witnessed softer annual inflation rates in April, except for vegetables, fruit and hot beverages.
"Housing and utilities, miscellaneous goods and services, food and non-alcoholic beverages and transport were all drivers of the headline inflation rate," he said.
Kelley said annual inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages moderated further from 5.1% in March to 4.47% in April, the fifth consecutive month of decline.
He said most food and non-alcoholic beverages sub-categories witnessed "softer" annual inflation rates, except for vegetables, fruit and hot beverages.
"On average vegetable prices increased by 7.4% in the 12 months to April, higher than the 6% increase recorded in March. Vegetable products that recorded relatively high price increases include potatoes, frozen potato chips, broccoli and beans."
The annual rate for fruit rose to 4.5% from 3.3% in March, mainly driven by high prices for bananas and apples.
Kelley said CPI for hot beverages increased marginally from 11.2% to 11.4%.
"The rates for instant coffee and black tea remain in double-digit territory. Bread and cereals inflation continues to slow, declining for the 12th consecutive month in April. The annual rate eased to 4.3% in April, from 5% in March.
"Bread flour, cake flour, ready mix flour, white bread, pasta, rusks, savoury biscuits and maize meal are all cheaper than a year ago," he said.
However, Kelley noted sharp price increases for rice, pizza and pies, instant noodles and sweet biscuits.
"Annual rice inflation accelerated to 26.4%, the highest reading since May 2009 when the rate was 41.9%. Egg inflation recorded its fifth consecutive month of decline after peaking at 39.9% in November 2023, receding to 25.1% in April 2024," he added.
Most products in the milk and cheese category, with a few exceptions, recorded lower annual rates in April, pulling overall inflation for this category down to 8.7% from 10.1% in March.
Stats SA said fuel prices increased by a monthly 1.9% pushing the annual rate to 9%.
