S. Africa CPI hits 6.3 pct in July
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E-mail Xinhua, August 22, 2013
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew 6.3 percent year-on-year in July, the Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) announced on Wednesday.
The CPI had broken the predicted range between 3 percent and 6 percent by the Reserve Bank, the Stats SA said.
It was previously estimated that the CPI in the country would breach the target in the third quarter this year.
In June, the country's CPI stood at 5.5 percent.
The Stats SA pointed out that the July CPI rise was driven by some sectors, such as housing and utilities, transport, food and varied goods.
Among the biggest drivers were water and other services which marked an increase of 7.9 percent. Electricity and fuels rose 7.1 percent.
On Wednesday, the South African currency rand hit a six-week low against the U. S. dollar, with a ratio of one dollar against 10.28 rands.
The CPI is usually used to measure inflation in the economic world.
"The rand will pose an upside risk to the inflation," a Nedbank economist warned."The rising oil prices will also increase the inflation pressure, mainly through the petrol price."
The petrol price is currently more than 13 rands per liter in South Africa.
It is expected the petrol price would account for 0.1 percent of the inflation number in August, said the economist.
However, some other economic experts believed that the inflation in the country would only rise moderately in the coming months.
In the recent years the South African government has been plagued by the rising inflation due to the global economic volatility.
The South African CPI average in 2012 was 5.6 percent, compared with 5 percent in 2011 and 4.3 percent in 2010. Endi
