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After yesterday's blog looking at the compound inflation rate from 2008 to May 2016 per province, we take a look at the current drivers of inflation in each province. We plot on an interactive map, the inflation rate of the main groups in the inflation basket per province. This helps in comparing the inflation of various groups across provinces.
For example how does the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages inflation in Gauteng, compare to that of Limpopo or Western Cape etc. Note Inflation Rate's shown on the interactive map is year on year inflation rate for May 2016. Thus growth in prices from May 2015 to May 2016. |
Interactive Map
The map above can be left alone to cycle through the various groups in the CPI or users can select the group they are interested in. The colour scale changes per product type. But basic principle that applies, the lighter blue the colour the lower the rate of inflation, the brighter red the colour the higher the rate of inflation
A few interesting observations on the interactive map above is the exceptionally high food inflation in Limpopo, the low housing inflation in Northern Cape, the high Alcoholic beverages inflation in Mpumalanga and the generally low levels of inflation in the Transport Grouping. And even lower levels of inflation experienced in the Communication grouping. The continued decline in the cost of calls and data is pushing down prices in this CPI grouping. As demand for data is increasing, so is the supply. And supply of cheaper and cheaper data and larger and larger bundles are driving down the cost of Communication within the CPI.
The main groupings in the interactive map above includes the following:
- Food and non alcoholic beverages
- Alcoholic beverages and tobacco
- Clothing and footwear
- Housing and utilities
- Household contents and equipment (Furniture)
- Health
- Transport
- Communication
- Recreation and culture
- Education
- Restaurants and hotels
- Miscellaneous goods and services
Users should note that the various provinces have different items in the respective CPI baskets, and different weights they apply to them. For example within Food, Gauteng might have Brown Bread in its basket, while Limpopo might not have Brown Bread in it's basket. And in terms of weighting, electricity might carry a 50% weight within Housing in Northern Cape, but only 15% weight withing Housing in Western Cape. And it is due to these differences that we see different rates of inflation for the various provinces for the same groupings.
The map does however provide insights into which provinces are experiencing higher levels of inflation for various products in the current economic environment.
The map does however provide insights into which provinces are experiencing higher levels of inflation for various products in the current economic environment.