As the economic situation for most consumers in South Africa remains depressed, with inflation soaring, interest rate hikes on the up and another fuel price increase predicted for next month, many will be holding on to the purse strings this coming festive season.
Abigail Moyo, spokesperson of the trade union UASA, says, “The slight decrease in the annual inflation rate to 7.5% in September from 7.6% in August, as reported by StatsSA this morning, is to be welcomed.”
“Although StatsSA reports that food price increases are cooling down, the slight Consumer Price Index (CPI) decrease does not reflect the actual cost-of-living ordinary workers are subjected to, especially regarding fuel, and food and non-alcoholic beverages. The main contributors were food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing and utilities, transport, and miscellaneous goods and services. The price of 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%,” Moyo further said.
“As fuel prices decreased at the beginning of September, the annual fuel price inflation rate fell to 34.1% from a high of 56.2% reported in July. Unfortunately, this will be short-lived as fuel prices are set to increase sharply again in November. Workers planning to take to the road this December should consider putting away extra money so they can still enjoy a well-earned break,” she further added.
BUSINESS REPORT