South Africa’s consumer price inflation quickened at a faster-than-expected pace in January to the highest level in six-and-a-half years, figures from Statistics South Africa showed Wednesday.
The consumer price index climbed 7.0 percent year-over-year in January, faster than the 6.2 percent rise in December. Economists had expected the inflation to accelerate to 6.8 percent.
The latest rate of increase was the sharpest since May 2009, when prices had grown 8.0 percent.
Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages surged 8.6 percent annually in January and transport costs rose by 8.7 percent.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up 1.4 percent at the start of the year, following a 0.8 percent increase in the preceding month.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com