SA’s Producer Price Inflation slows to 5.4% in April

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Producer-price inflation for final manufactured goods slowed to 5.4 percent from 5.7 percent in March, Statistics South Africa said on 30th May. Producer-price inflation for final manufactured goods slowed to 5.4 percent from 5.7 percent in March, Statistics South Africa said on 30th May.

The cost of goods leaving South African factories rose at a slower pace in April, giving the Reserve Bank more room to keep interest rates at a 30-year low to support a stalling economy.

Producer-price inflation for final manufactured goods slowed to 5.4 percent from 5.7 percent in March, Statistics South Africa said on 30th May.

The Reserve Bank held the benchmark repurchase rate at 5 percent last week, warning that inflation pressures are rising due to a weaker rand and high wage settlements even as it cut its growth forecasts for this year and next. Africa’s biggest economy expanded an annualized 0.9 percent in the first quarter, the least since a 2009 recession.

The rand has slumped 13.7 percent against the dollar this year, the second most of 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg after the yen.

Consumer-price inflation, which was unchanged at 5.9 percent in April, will probably peak at an average 6.1 percent in the third quarter, according to the central bank. The bank’s target is 3 percent and 6 percent.


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