South Africa Inflation Eases Less Than Forecast

(RTTNews) - South Africa's consumer price inflation eased less-than-expected in August, figures from Statistics South Africa showed on Wednesday.

The consumer price index climbed 7.6 percent year-on-year in August, slightly slower than the 7.8 percent rise in June. That was just above the 7.5 percent increase expected by economists.

Further, inflation eased for the first time in four months.

Transport costs grew the most by 21.2 percent annually in August, and prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages also registered a double-digit growth of 11.3 percent.

Housing and utilities costs grew 4.0 percent and those for miscellaneous goods and services increased 3.7 percent.

In August, inflation for goods slowed to 10.9 percent from 11.5 percent in July, while that for services rose marginally to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices went up 0.2 percent in August versus an expected increase of 0.1 percent.

The core inflation, which excludes prices of non-alcoholic beverages, fuels and energy, rose to 4.4 percent in August, while it was expected to grow by 4.6 percent.