According to the Bank of America, South Africans should consider avoiding vegan, low-alcohol and bread to get relief from high inflation and rising inflation.
With inflation hovering around the central bank’s 3% to 6% ceiling in April, the “pain points” for annual and monthly price increases were the consumption of meat products, fats and oils and alcoholic beverages, according to BofA’s sub-Saharan African economist Tatonga Rousseff. Said in a note. He said there was still a long way to go to increase the prices of bread and food grains.
“Eating fruits and vegetables at home and communicating with loved ones is probably worth it,” he said.
The savings could be used to cover “less avoidable” open fuel and electricity prices, he said. According to Bank of America estimates, gasoline prices, which could rise by about 16% in June, will drive annual inflation to 6.5% and see an average rate of 6% in 2022.
South Africa’s central bank revised its domestic food inflation forecast for the year to 6.1% to 6.6% on Thursday, raising the biggest interest rate in more than six years. Its estimates show that as price pressures intensify, inflation has now peaked at 6.3% in the second quarter of this year and returned to just 4.5% – the midpoint of the target range where it chooses to anchor expectations – a quarter of 2024 in the final.
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