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The rocky economic ride will continue for South Africans as rising food prices pushed inflation over 7% in March.
Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday that headline consumer inflation climbed to 7.1% in March, from 7% in February and 6.9% in January.
Chief Director for Price Statistics, Patrick Kelley, said on the month, the change in the consumer price index was 1% in March, the most significant monthly rise since July last year when it was 1.5%.
Food, non-alcoholic beverages, and transport were the main drivers behind the annual and monthly increases, where prices continued to accelerate by 14% in the 12 months to March.
Food prices continue to soar
Kelley said inflation for food & non-alcoholic beverages continued to accelerate, with prices increasing by 14.0% in the 12 months to March, “the largest annual increase since the 14.7% rise in March 2009.
Many food types, including milk, eggs and cheese, sweets and desserts, and goods considered ‘other food products’ came under upward inflationary pressure, with the milk, eggs, and cheese product group reaching 13.6% from the recent low of 3.7% in April 2022.
“The reading in March is the highest annual increase since February 2009’s print of 13.9%,” Kelley said.
However, he said bread and cereals, meat, oils, fats, and fish “bucked the trend,” recording slower growth.
Education fees rise sharply
Meanwhile, parents with children at school and university have also been feeling the inflationary pinch, as education fees, which are surveyed once a year in March, increased overall by 5.7% in 2023, higher than the 4.4% increase recorded last year.
“Fee increases were recorded for primary and pre-primary schools (up 6.3%), secondary schools (up 5.8%) and tertiary institutions (up 5.3%).”
Fees for other education-related products and services, that include crèches and boarding schools, rose 4.6%, while textbooks rose sharply, up 11.3% and school bags went up over 10%.
“The 11.3% rise in textbooks is the largest annual increase since October 2009.”
Transport inflation slows
Statistics South Africa reported a slow-down in the transport index which rose by 8.9% in the 12 months to March, down from the 9.9% annual rate recorded in February.
Stats SA said this downward move was due to eight consecutive months of slowing fuel inflation, which reached 8.1% in March from 10.9% in February, far lower than the 56.2% peak in July 2022.
Fuel prices, however, rose by 4.5% between February and March on the back of the price of inland 95-octane petrol rising.
