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South Africa’s inflation rate fell to 5.8 percent in November, staying inside the central bank’s target band for a third month.
Inflation slowed from 5.9 percent, the Pretoria-based statistics office said on its website today. The median estimate of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 5.8 percent. Prices were unchanged in the month.
The price of Brent crude oil has dropped by about 40 percent since reaching a nine-month high on June 19, helping to contain inflation even as the rand weakened by more than 6 percent against the dollar in the same period. The Reserve Bank left its benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 5.75 percent last month and cut its inflation forecasts.
“Inflation is likely to ease gradually,” Mohammed Nalla, head of strategic research at Nedbank Group Ltd., said in an e-mailed note to clients before the data was released. “The rand remains the key risk to the inflation outlook.”
The core inflation rate, which excludes food, non-alcoholic beverages, gasoline and electricity costs, rose to 5.8 percent in November from 5.7 percent in the previous month.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rene Vollgraaff in Johannesburg at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net Michael Gunn
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