South Africa Inflation Eases As Expected In September

(RTTNews) - South Africa's consumer price inflation eased slightly in September, in line with expectations, figures from Statistics South Africa showed on Wednesday.

The consumer price index climbed 7.5 percent year-on-year in September, just below the 7.6 percent rise in June.

Further, inflation eased for the second straight month.

However, it is still above the upper limit of the South African Reserve Bank's target range of 3 percent to 6 percent.

The core inflation, which excludes prices of non-alcoholic beverages, fuels and energy, rose to 4.7 percent in September from 4.4 percent in August. The expected increase was 4.5 percent.

Transport costs grew the most by 17.9 percent annually in September, and prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages also registered a double-digit growth of 11.9 percent.

Housing and utilities costs grew 4.2 percent and those for miscellaneous goods and services increased 4.0 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices edged up 0.1 percent in September versus a 0.2 percent gain in the prior month. That was in line with economists' forecast.

Despite another month of slowing inflation, the central bank is still expected to raise interest rates in November.