CPI falls to 5.6 percent

 

Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) for all urban areas in May 2013 decreased to 5.6 percent, Statistics SA (StatsSA) said on Wednesday.

 

This rate was 0.3 percent lower than the corresponding annual rate of 5.9 percent in April 2013.

 

On average, prices decreased by 0.3 percent between the two months.

 

The CPI measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services.

 

StatsSA said food and non-alcoholic inflation increased to 6.4 percent in May from 6.2 percent in April.

 

The household contents and services inflation increased by 0.1 percent.

 

The transport index fell by two percent, mainly due to a 73 cents a litre fall in the price of petrol.

 

Provinces with an annual inflation rate lower than or equal to headline inflation were Gauteng (5.6 percent), Mpumalanga (5.6 percent), Free State (5.5 percent), Northern Cape (5.4 percent), KwaZulu-Natal (5.4 percent), Western Cape (5.1 percent) and Eastern Cape (4.7 percent).

 

The provinces with an annual inflation rate higher than headline inflation were North West and Limpopo, at 5.8 percent.

 

Investec economist Annabel Bishop said inflation was expected to stay within the target range in 2013 and 2014.

 

"The weakness of demand in the South African economy in [the] second quarter of 2013 is reflected in May's CPI figures."

 

- Sapa