SA inflation accelerates at fastest pace since 2009

South African inflation quickened for a third consecutive month amid mounting underlying price pressures.

The headline consumer-price index rose 7.8% from a year earlier, compared with 7.4% in June, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said Wednesday in a statement on its website. That matched the median of 14 economists’ estimates. It remains at a level last seen during the global financial crisis and is now the fastest inflation of Lesetja Kganyago’s tenure as central bank governor.

Core inflation, which excludes the prices of food, non-alcoholic drinks, fuel and electricity, quickened to 4.6%, breaching the midpoint of the central bank’s target range of 3% to 6% for the first time in more than four years. The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee prefers to anchor inflation expectations close to 4.5%.

Kganyago has told lawmakers that headline inflation may be nearing a peak, though growing underlying price pressures may see the MPC continue its aggressive interest-rate hiking cycle.