One would be forgiven for missing crucial economic data releases during the busy calendar of the BRICS summit in the week of 25 August in South Africa. One example of such data was the inflation figures, which showed that South Africa's headline consumer inflation fell to 4,7% in July 2023, the lowest since July 2021, from 5,4% in June. Notably, this was better than the market's forecast of 4,9%.
The sharp fuel price deflation and easing food price pressures were some of the main drivers of this deceleration in headline inflation.
I particularly noticed the food category of the
