Bad news on inflation ahead of budget speech

VAAL TRIANGLE - There was bad news about South Africa’s inflation rate before this afternoon’s budget speech. After two consecutive months of decline, annual consumer inflation crept up in January, rising to 5.3% from 5.1% in December. The categories in the inflation basket with the largest annual price increases were restaurants and hotels at 8%, food and non-alcoholic beverages at 7.2%, and health at 6.5%. The good news is that annual inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages was lower in January compared to December and November.