South Africa Producer Price Inflation Hits 6-Month High

(RTTNews) - South Africa's producer price inflation accelerated in April to the highest level in six months, Statistics South Africa reported Thursday.

The producer price index showed an annual increase of 5.1 percent in April, following a 4.6 percent rise in March.

Further, this was the strongest inflation since October last year, when prices had risen 5.8 percent.

The rise in overall annual inflation in April was largely driven by coke, petroleum, chemicals, rubber and plastic products, food products, beverages and tobacco products, metals, machinery, equipment, and computing equipment.

The producer price index for electricity and water alone grew by 14.4 percent from last year, and that for agriculture, forestry, and fishing rose by 9.7 percent. At the same time, prices for mining dropped 5.5 percent.

On a monthly basis, producer prices moved up 0.5 percent at the start of the second quarter.