The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November rose to 5.5% year-on-year compared with 5% in October, according to the newly-released Statistics South Africa figures.
On a month-on-month basis, CPI was also higher at 0.5% compared with 0.2% in October.
The South African Reserve Bank has an inflation target range of three to 6%.
Transport prices drive inflation higher
The transport category continues to be the major factor behind inflation, recording an annual increase of 15.0% in November.
This makes it the only major group in the inflation basket with an annual rate above the 6.0% upper limit of the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy target range.
The transport category was the only contributor to the monthly increase in the CPI and was the largest factor driving the annual change in the index, contributing 2.1% points to the 5.5% annual inflation rate.
Fuel
Fuel prices increased by 7.1% between October and November, taking the annual rate to 34.5%.
The price of inland 95-octane petrol was R19.54 per litre in November 2021 compared with R14.59 in November 2020.
The diesel index increased by 35.1% over the same period. The average price of diesel was R18.75 per litre in November 2021 compared with R13.89 per litre in November 2020.
In 2021, headline inflation was mostly higher than the CPI excluding fuel, indicating the impact of rapidly rising fuel prices. In November, the annual change in the CPI excluding fuel index was 4.2%, lower than the headline rate of 5.5%.
Public transport tariffs recorded a monthly increase of 1.7% and an annual rise of 8.3%. On average, vehicles are 5.6% more expensive than they were in November 2020.
Stats SA’s CPI report:
