Inflation rises to 3.2% in January

JOHANNESBURG - Inflation is on the up again after a slight increase was reported in the January reading.

Headline inflation came in at 3.2% year-on-year last month up from 3% in December.

This is the third consecutive increase.

Stats SA released the latest inflation data on Wednesday.

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This is the first set of inflation data to be published under the new basket which is used to track the changes in prices after Stats SA announced a readjustment to the basket recently.

Chief Director of Price Statistics Patrick Kelly says housing and utilities remained the biggest drivers of consumer inflation while the change in food prices slowed.

"As often the case, we can look at food and alcoholic beverages and that is a very large weight item in the basket – that can in at 2,3% year on year, that’s slightly lower than the 2,5% in December and that drop might be the reason why economists were slightly off on their forecasts."