BusinessLive reports that Statistics SA on Wednesday reported the consumer price index (CPI) for April at 5.3% year-on-year, down from 6.1% in March.
The market had projected inflation would be between 5.4% and 5.6%. Investec economist Kamilla Kaplan said much of the deviation between consensus expectations and the actual headline CPI outcome could likely be accounted for by food price developments. The contribution to consumer inflation from food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased from 1.5 percentage points to 1.1 percentage points year-on-year between March and April. Kaplan added that the inflation trajectory showed a return to the Reserve Bank’s target range of 3% to 6% in 2017, on softer food price growth and a continued absence of meaningful demand-led inflation.
- A short report by Reitumetse Pitso is at BusinessLive
- See too, Inflation falls, boosts hopes for rate cut this year, at Moneyweb
- And also, CPI surprise drop to 5.3%, on page 17 of Business Report of 25 May 2017
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