South Africa CPI Slows

Consumer inflation in South Africa slowed much more than expected in April. The consumer price index rose 5.3% in April from a year earlier, Statistics SA said on Wednesday—slowing from 6.1% in March AllAfrica reported. The rand briefly ducked below R13/$ on the news, hitting R12.988 against the greenback shortly after the release of the data. The CPI measures changes in the price of consumer goods and services purchased by households in urban areas. April’s numbers were better than expected. Trading Economics and Investec had both forecast April CPI inflation to drop to 5.7%. The consumer price index increased by 0.1% month on month in April. Kamilla Kaplan of Investec has pointed also to cheaper fuel as contributing to slowing inflation. Petrol and diesel prices were reduced by 24c per liter and 10c per liter, respectively, in April. Food inflation, meanwhile, continued to slow in April, as it has for most of this year. The pace of the slowdown picked up, though, with prices for food rising 6.6% from a year earlier.