1. SA Economic Indicators
Report updated:
April 2016
Next update:
May 2016
SA Economic Indicators

2. SA Economic Indicators
What is the SA Economic Indicators report?
Ti’s SA Economic Indicators report is a clear and easy-to-read view of the most currently available data for South Africa’s key economic indicators. Produced on a monthly basis by Ti Research, it draws on official information from various public and private institutions. The report is released in the first week of each new month, reporting on the available data up to and including the last day of the previous month.
How to read this report
Depending on the indicator itself, data is released by the various institutions on a daily, monthly or quarterly basis. The frequency and release date has been indicated at the foot of each slide, next to the data source. These dates are indicative however, since the institutions may publish the data with a delay.
Data lag: Data availability varies according to the data source, at times with a lag of a couple of months.
e.g. Retail Trade Sales for July 2015 were released with a two-month lag in September 2015
GDP figures for Q2/2015 were released two months after Q2 (i.e. in August 2015)
Readers are reminded to bear this data lag in mind when looking for parallels between indicators. It might therefore be necessary to go back to previous months’ reports in order to correctly analyse indicators over the same reporting periods.

3. SA Economic Indicators
Inflation | February 2011 to February 2016
BASKET WEIGHTING
2008
Food 15.7%
Petrol 4.8%
Electricity 1.9%
BASKET WEIGHTING
2012
Food 15.4%
Petrol 7.3%
Electricity 4.2%
SOURCE: StatsSA | Frequency: Monthly | Release date: 3rd Wednesday of the successive month

4. SA Economic Indicators
Inflation | CPI by Category – February 2013 to February 2016
Electricity crisis and resulting increase in electricity prices
Rand depreciation pushes up Food inflation
SOURCE: StatsSA | Frequency: Monthly | Release date: 3rd Wednesday of the successive month

5. SA Economic Indicators
Inflation | CPI by Food Type – at February 2016
6 categories experienced inflation above the upper target band.
SOURCE: StatsSA | Frequency: Monthly | Release date: 3rd Wednesday of the successive month

6. SA Economic Indicators
Inflation across the income groupings is above the upper target band. Lower-end consumers are exposed to higher inflation rates due to their higher exposure to commodities.
Inflation | CPI by Expenditure Quintile* – at February 2016
NOTE: StatsSA divides the 5 quintiles* by household expenditure as follows: quintile 1 up to R21 399, quintile 2 R – R35 750, quintile 3 R – R61 624, quintile 4 R – R , quintile 5 R
*A quintile refers to an equitable division of the population into 5 equal groups
SOURCE: StatsSA | Frequency: Monthly | Release date: 3rd Wednesday of the successive month

7. SA Economic Indicators
Inflation
COMMENTARY
CPI for February 2016: increased to +7.0% (January 2016: 6.2%), higher than 2015 levels
Transport: increased +0.5% between January 2016 & February 2016
Food and non-alcoholic beverages: increase of +2.3% between January 2016 and February The annual rate increased to 8.6% (6.9% in January) – the items with the highest monthly rates were vegetables (21.6%) and oils & fats (17.8%)
Food inflation is expected to continue to increase
This is due to an increase in local maize prices (and therefore also meat prices) as a result of the drought
Other factors coming into play are the weak rand and unstable fuel price
Core inflation*: Measured +5.7% year-on-year
CPI for goods increased +7.9% year-on-year (from 6.5% in January)
CPI for services increased by +6.1% year-on-year (from 6.0% in January)
Inflation is expected to average 6.8% in 2016 and 7% in 2017, above the target band of 3-6%
*Excludes volatile prices such as food, petrol, non-alcoholic beverages and energy

8. Maryla Masojada. |. Head Analyst Tarryn Butler. |
Maryla Masojada | Head Analyst Tarryn Butler | Senior Retail Analyst Tabang Mbenge | Junior Retail Analyst