DURBAN – Growth in South African producer prices accelerated at the fastest rate since 2016 in August as fuel prices surged.
Producer inflation quickened to 6.3 percent from a year earlier compared with 6.1 percent in July, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said in a statement on its website on Thursday. That is the fastest pace of increases since December 2016.
Fuel prices surged to a record in September even as the government intervened in setting prices for the first time since the early 2000s. Crude has climbed 20 percent this year and the rand has lost 13 percent against the dollar, raising the cost of imports of the fuel, which the country does not produce.
Petroleum prices climbed 25 percent from a year earlier, while diesel surged 28 percent the statistics agency said.