SA factory inflation quickens on food, machinery costs

South African producer prices rose faster than analysts expected last month on higher food, metals and machinery prices.

The annual rate jumped to 4.3% in August — higher than all eight estimates from economists in a Bloomberg survey — from 2.7% in July, according to data published Thursday by Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa. The median forecast in the poll was 3.7%.

The acceleration in producer inflation, an early indicator of consumer goods-price growth, was mostly driven by a rise in prices of food, beverages and tobacco products and metals, machinery and computing equipment, which contributed 1.3 and 1.4 percentage points to the annual rate respectively.

South Africa’s central bank last week kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a 14-year high and warned that borrowing costs are likely to stay higher for longer because of persistent inflation risks.