The annual consumer price inflation (CPI) marginally dipped to 7.5% in September 2022.

This was a 0.1% decrease from the 7.6% recorded in August 2022, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Wednesday.

Statistician General Risenga Maluleke said the main contributors to the 7.5% annual inflation rate were food and non-alcoholic beverages; housing and utilities; transport; and miscellaneous goods and services.

“Food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 11.9% year-on-year, and contributed 2.0 percentage points to the total CPI annual rate of 7.5%.

“Housing and utilities increased by 4.2% year-on-year, and contributed 1.0 percentage point. Transport increased by 17.9% year-on-year, and contributed 2.5 percentage points,” he said.

During this period, miscellaneous goods and services increased by 4.0% year-on-year, and contributed 0.6 of a percentage point.

“In September the annual inflation rate for goods was 10.7%, down from 10.9% in August; and for services it was 4.3%, unchanged August,” said Maluleke.

Stats SA obtains prices from retailers through fieldwork collection and online collection. The paper forms used by fieldworkers are being replaced by tablets, which provide a custom application that includes quality control and management modules.

The new collection method for fieldwork will be implemented from July 2022 to March 2023 and is expected to improve the quality and speed of data collection and processing.

Source: South African Government News Agency