The consumer inflation rate was unchanged at 5.6 percent in November, Statistics SA said yesterday, supporting expectations that the Reserve Bank will keep borrowing costs at the lowest level in more than 30 years.
The year-on-year rise in the consumer price index matched the median estimate of 19 analysts.
Prices rose 0.2 percent in the month.
“We are seeing the impact of high food prices in the early part of the year and the depreciation of the rand into food prices,” Elize Kruger, an economist at KADD Capital, said yesterday.
“We maintain our view that we expect rates to remain unchanged through 2013, and at least into 2014.”
The Reserve Bank kept its benchmark repo rate at 5 percent on November 22 to help support the economy while curbing price pressures from a weaker rand and rising food costs. – Bloomberg