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We take a look at the latest inflation rate numbers as published by Statistics South Africa earlier today. The January 2019 headline inflation number came in at:
4% Well within the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) inflation target range of between 3% and 6%. Budget our current levels of inflation might be shorted lived. Crude oil prices are on the increase again, the exchange rate has weakened a bit from a month or so ago and in the budget speech later today we are sure the finance minster will announce fuel levy increases as well as road accident fund levy increases which will push up the petrol price substantially in April of this year. |
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January 2019 inflation rate: 4.0% down from December 2018's 4.5%
The interactive map of South Africa shows the inflation rate per month per province since the start of 2018. And in every single month in 2018 as well as the start of 2019, the Western Cape had the highest inflation rate of any of South Africa's provinces. According to Statistics South Africa this is due to the higher than normal rent paid in the Western Cape, which leads to higher estimates of "Owner occupied housing", or basically the cost of living in a house instead of renting it out. And due to the high levels of rent and rental growth in the Western Cape their inflation rate is persistently higher than any of the other provinces in South Africa. See our article on Western Cape property bubble for more information.
And not only does the Western Cape have the highest inflation rate of any of South Africa's provinces, as we showed yesterday those living in the Western Cape pay far more for 1 kilogram of beef fillet than any of the other provinces in South Africa. See the average beef fillet prices per province article here.
The summary below shows the January 2019 inflation rate per province as well as the headline number for South Africa as a whole
The summary below shows the January 2019 inflation rate per province as well as the headline number for South Africa as a whole
- Western Cape: 4.6%
- Gauteng: 4.1%
- Free State: 4.1%
- South Africa: 4%
- Mpumalanga: 3.7%
- Northern Cape: 3.7%
- KwaZulu-Natal: 3.6%
- Eastern Cape: 3.6%
- Limpopo: 3.5%
- North West: 3.3%
According to the CPI publication as released by Stats SA the main contributors to the inflation rate of 4% in January 2019 were:
- Food and non alcoholic beverages: 0.5% points
- Transport: 0.4% points
- Miscellaneous goods and services: 0.8% points