Inflation decelerates to 6.3%

Inflation decelerated to 6.3% in March from 7% in February‚ beating expectations of 6.6% from a poll of economists.

Lower petrol prices helped the transport component of the consumer price index (CPI) fall 1.3 percentage points‚ bringing the increase in March to 4.5% from the same month last year‚ Statistics SA reported on Wednesday.

Food prices increased by 1.3 percentage points‚ bringing year-on-year food inflation to 9.5%.

March’s increase brought the index‚ which was set to 100 in December 2012‚ to 120.2 points.

The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee attempts to keep inflation under 6%‚ but above 3%.

In January‚ CPI rose to 6.2% from 5.5% in December.

The Reserve Bank recently said it does not expect CPI to fall back under 6% before late next year.

Stats SA provides CPI figures split into five income groups and average CPI per province.

This showed rising food prices caused the poorest people to suffer most‚ with inflation for the first quartile at 7.7% while the richest quartile suffered only 6.1% inflation.

Limpopo’s CPI was highest at 7.6% and the Northern Cape had the lowest at 5.1%. – Tiso Black Star Group Digital/BDlive