Statistics South Africa has published its latest consumer price index, showing that annual consumer price inflation has broken through the upper limit of the Reserve Bank’s target range for the second consecutive month.

Inflation was recorded at 7.4% in June 2022, up from 6.5% in May 2022.  The June rate is the highest reading since May 2009 (8%) when the economy was facing the headwind of currency depreciation during the global financial crisis.

“Many countries around the globe have experienced rising inflation in recent months, making it a hot topic for debate, particularly in the area of monetary policy,” Statistics South Africa said.

“Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) increased by 8.6% year-on-year in June. This is the highest annual rate for food and NAB since March 2017 when the country was recovering from severe drought. The main groups contributing to high food inflation in June 2022 were bread and cereals, meat, and oils and fats.”

Bread and cereal products recorded an annual rate of 11.2% in June, up from 8.4% in May. The monthly increase was 2.6% with notable price rises for maize meal (5.2%), brown bread (3.2%) and macaroni (3%).

Meat prices increased by 9.5% in the 12 months to June, slightly higher than 9.4% recorded in May. Large price increases are widespread across the group, with polony recording the highest annual increase (19%).

Some of the largest annual price increases (June 2021 vs June 2022) were recorded for the following goods and services:

• Fuel: +45.3% 
• Oils and fats: +32.5%
• Electricity: +14.5%
• Public transport: +14.3%
• Bread and cereals: +11.2%
• Meat: +9.5% 
• Beer: +8%
• Wine: +7.9%

• Transport goods and services recorded an average annual price increase of 20% and a monthly rise of 4.2%. Fuel prices were up by 45.3% in June, representing the largest annual increase for fuel since the current CPI series began in 2009.

  Fuel is not the only component in the transport product group experiencing significant price increases. Used vehicle prices have climbed since May 2020 (recording an annual rate of -2.9%) to reach 11.1% in June 2022.

  Public transport prices increased by 14.3% from June 2021 and 4.3% from May 2022. Monthly increases were recorded for taxi fares (2.7%), airfares (7.1%) and long-distance buses (11.7%).

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