Inflation has increased by almost 414% since 1995, but with the recent surge in food prices, R100 tends to buy you less than it should at the start of 2025 compared to 30 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inflation in South Africa is influenced by a combination of global and local factors. In recent years, two major international events have exacerbated inflationary pressures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains worldwide, leading to shortages and surging prices for goods and services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subsequently, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine sent global food and fuel prices skyrocketing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These crises had a cascading effect, pushing up costs in essential sectors and increasing financial strain on South African consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the end of 2024, average annual consumer price inflation settled at 4.4%, a marked improvement from the 6.0% average in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, this was partly due to significant fuel price drops earlier in the year, temporarily easing inflationary pressures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These relief measures were short-lived, with rising petrol prices in late 2024 and early 2025 expected to reignite inflationary concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Statistics South Africa has recorded consumer price inflation over a long period of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CPI headline indexes can be used to calculate the equivalent buying power of R100 between 1995 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stats SA said the consumer price index (CPI) is a metric that reflects changes in the rate of inflation and measures changes in price for a range of consumer products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To calculate today\u2019s value of R100 after inflation, one must multiply R100 by the CPI of 2025 divided by the CPI of 1995. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This calculation shows that R100 in 1995 would be roughly equivalent to R513.72 in 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This represents an inflation figure of 413.7% over the past 30 years or 5.8% annually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, many things, including staples like food, have exceeded this growth, making R100 today much less powerful in terms of purchasing power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Concerningly, food inflation has beaten inflation in some way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, eggs have seen a 989% price increase since 1995, far exceeding the inflation rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, staples like white bread and milk have risen by 787% and 624%, respectively, underscoring the disproportionate burden on South African households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Food prices are rising faster than overall inflation due to several reasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Global events like COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine have disrupted agricultural supply chains, making it more expensive to produce and transport food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The costs of farming essentials like fertilizer, fuel, and electricity have also gone up, which adds to the prices consumers pay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A weaker rand has also made imported farming materials more expensive. Finally, climate change, with unpredictable weather and droughts, has reduced crop production, limited supply, and driven prices higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The table below shows how the price of certain goods in 1995, as provided by StatsSA, compares to the same or similar products today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For comparison purposes, prices from four of the country\u2019s major retailers (Woolworths, Checkers, Pick n Pay and Spar) were considered to reach an average cost figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interestingly, only one item (Sta-soft) increased above inflation over the period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s notable about the items below is that if it were treated as a basket, the total in 1995 (R93.16) could all be purchased for R100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2025, the total (R728.24) is much higher than the R100 equivalent (R513.72), showing the crumbling of purchasing power over the decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2025, R100 will buy you much less than it did 30 years ago in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":808548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[9741,7530,853,1809],"class_list":["post-808491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-food","tag-inflation","tag-south-africa","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":808738,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808491\/revisions\/808738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Prices of goods 1995 vs 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Item<\/th> The average cost in 1995<\/th> The average cost in 2025<\/th> % change<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> White bread (700g) <\/td> R2.14 <\/td> R18.99<\/td> 787%<\/td><\/tr> 2-litre milk<\/td> R4.83 <\/td> R34.99<\/td> 624%<\/td><\/tr> Lamb chops (per kg)<\/td> R20.95<\/td> R199.99<\/td> 855%<\/td><\/tr> Chicken fillet (per kg)<\/td> R10.09<\/td> R69.99<\/td> 594%<\/td><\/tr> Apples (per kg)<\/td> R4.12<\/td> R34.99<\/td> 749%<\/td><\/tr> Coca Cola (1L) <\/td> R2.68 <\/td> R18.99<\/td> 609%<\/td><\/tr> Eggs (6-pack) <\/td> R2.12 <\/td> R22.99<\/td> 989% <\/td><\/tr> Toothpaste (100ml)<\/td> R4.02 <\/td> R19.99<\/td> 397%<\/td><\/tr> toilet paper (4-pack)<\/td> R6.09 <\/td> R34.99<\/td> 475%<\/td><\/tr> 2kg white rice<\/td> R5.73<\/td> R37.99<\/td> 563%<\/td><\/tr> Kellogg\u2019s cornflakes (500g)<\/td> R7.89 <\/td> R54.99<\/td> 597%<\/td><\/tr> Cheese (per kg)<\/td> R22.50\/kg <\/td> R179.35\/kg<\/td> 697%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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