CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s producer price inflation quickened at a slower-than-expected pace in February to the highest level in more than one-and-a-half years, figures from Statistics South Africa showed Thursday.
The producer price index climbed 8.1 percent year-over-year in February, faster than the 7.6 percent rise in January. Economists had expected the inflation to accelerate to 8.5 percent. The latest rate of increase was the sharpest since June 2014, when prices had grown the same 8.1 percent.
The price index for agriculture, forestry and fishing surged 24.9 percent annually in February and that for electricity and water rose by 12.6 percent. On a monthly basis, producer prices went up 0.8 percent in February, below economists’ expectations for a 1.1 percent spike.
