In December 2022, the Household Affordability Index by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity group showed that food prices in South Africa rose during this month, and this was putting households on the back foot for the start of 2023.
According to Statistics South Africa (StatsSa), the country’s inflation rose to 7.1% in March 2023, from February’s incline of 7.0%.
These numbers give a clear indication that South Africans will pay more for goods. In a statement, the Agency has also revealed:
Consumer prices rose by a full percentage point from February 2023 to March 2023, which is the biggest monthly rise since July last year when it was 1.5%.
Food items that experienced upward inflationary pressure in March 2023 were milk, eggs, cheese, sugar, sweets and desserts, fruit, and vegetables.
StatsSA has pointed out that this product group witnessed its annual rate reaching 13.6% from the recent low of 3.7% in April 2022.
Bread, cereals, meat, oils, fats, and fish recorded a slower growth during this period, with the annual increase for bread and cereals going down from February 2023 to March 2023.
There has been a downward shift in the transport index, which was led by eight consecutive months of slowing fuel inflation, which reached 8.1% in March from 10.9% in February and StatSa stated that this is much lower than the 56.2% peak in July 2022.
Fuel prices rose by 4.5% between February and March due to the price of inland 95-octane petrol rising by R1.27 per litre.
Here Are Increases In the Education Sector
In the Basic Education sectors, overall school fees reached an increase of 4.4% in the 2022 school year and have increased further to 5.7% this year.
Primary and pre-primary schools had the highest increase, with tertiary institutions having the lowest increase of 5.3%.
