Annual consumer inflation cooled to 6.9% in January, from 7.2% in December. This is the third consecutive month of decline. But food inflation reached the highest rate since 2009.
The consumer price index (CPI) decreased by 0.1% between December and January, reported Estadísticas SA.
Source: SA Statistics
Cheaper fuel helped tame some prices, with gasoline prices returning to levels last seen in March 2022.
Still, food prices continued to rise. Food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation reached 13.4% in January, the highest level since April 2009.
Source: SA Statistics
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Vegetables experienced the largest increase, with prices rising more than 5% between December and January.
Source: SA Statistics
Bread and cereal prices were 21.8% higher than a year earlier. In a single month (from December to January), the prices of pizzas and empanadas rose 3.6%, while corn (+3.1%) and wholemeal bread (+1.3%) also registered strong rises.
Meat prices rose to 11.2% in January from a year earlier, from 9.7% in December.
SA Statistics reports that individually frozen chicken portions, which have the greatest weight in the meat basket, increased 2.7% in January compared to the previous month. Bacon prices were 19.4% more expensive than the previous year, while fish prices rose 13%, the largest annual price increase since May 2009.
Inflation hit a 13-year high in July last year, hitting 7.8%. To cool inflation, the Reserve Bank has aggressively raised interest rates. The monetary policy committee will meet at the end of March to decide whether another hike is required.
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