South Africa\u2019s inflation rate rose more than forecast in August 2019, as food prices grew at the fastest pace in more than a year.<\/p>\n
Consumer price inflation increased by 4.3% year on year as at the end of August 2019. This was up from the 4.0% year on year increase in July.<\/p>\n
“This now marks the ninth consecutive month that year on year inflation was at or below the midpoint of the target band and the twenty-ninth consecutive month that year on year inflation is below the top end of the target band,” said Luigi Marinus, portfolio manager at PPS Investments.<\/p>\n
“Food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.6% to 0.7%), housing and utilities (1.2% to 1.3%), transport (0.4% to 0.5%) and recreation and culture (0.0% to 0.1%) each had a small increase to the contribution to year on year inflation, while the residual declined from -0.1% to -0.2%,” he said.<\/p>\n
Breakfast<\/strong><\/p>\n Notably ‘breakfast foods’ – including bread and cereals – were one of the biggest drivers of this increase.<\/p>\n Bacon and cream prices have also risen sharply over the last year, while the costs of eggs, margarine, and fruit have only fallen slightly.<\/p>\n The below graph shows how various breakfast foods have increased in price from August 2018 to August 2019:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Breakfast.jpg\")
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