Tag: food inflation

South Africa’s consumer continued to breathe a sigh of relief as headline inflation steadied to 5.2% y/y in May 2024 according to Statistics South Africa. Food inflation however decelerated further to 4.3% y/y in May 2024 from 4.4% in April 2024 underpinned by declines in bread and cereals, milk, eggs and cheese, oils and fats, and sugar, sweets, and desserts prices. Drilling deeper into the data shows a continued stickiness on the upside for coffee products.

Amidst the rising cost of living, interest rate and fuel price hikes, and load shedding, the elephant in the room remains persistently high rates of unemployment. Much fanfare tends to surround any announcement of a small decline in the quarterly unemployment rate as it did at the end of November 2022 when Statistics South Africa revealed that the official unemployment figure had decreased by one percentage point between the second and third quarters of 2022 from 33.9% to 32.9%.

Dumping is described as international price discrimination, wherein a product is cheaper in the importing market than it is in the market that is exporting said product. This practice is frowned upon, as exemplified by calls to curb dumping through measures like tariffs or outright bans on certain imports.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) once again unanimously voted in favour of lowering the repo rate this month, although 2 out of the 5 members preferred a shallower cut. In a vote of 3 to 2, the MPC decided to lower the repo rate by 50bp to 3.75%.

In the midst of a recessionary domestic economy, favourable inflation outlook and lower oil prices, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) got room to cut interest rates by 100 basis points to 5.25%. A rate cut, downside inflation outlook and supportive rand boost agriculture rebound.