South Africa’s consumer price inflation slowed unexpectedly in May, though marginally, figures from Statistics South Africa showed Wednesday.
Inflation was expected to rise to 4.6 percent on the implementation of a VAT hike implemented in April, but, consumer prices rose 4.4 percent year-over-year in May, just below the 4.5 percent climb in April.
Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased 3.4 percent annually and transport costs grew by 5.0 percent.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent from April, when it gained by 0.8 percent. That was in line with economists’ expectations.
