South Africa inflation rate (CPI)
Headline consumer price inflation for all urban areas, year-on-year percent change, from Statistics South Africa's monthly statistical release P0141. Published around the middle of the month following the reference month, under the Statistics Act 6 of 1999.
| Current value | 5 percent (YoY) |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-06-01 |
| Official source | Statistics South Africa — Statistical Release P0141, Consumer Price Index, June 2026 (embargoed until 22 July 2026 10:00; Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke): 'Annual consumer price inflation was 5,0% in June 2026, up from 4,5% in May 2026. The CPI increased by 0,7% month-on-month in June 2026.' Table B2, CPI headline year-on-year rates |
| Last verified | 2026-07-24 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
Reference month June 2026, released 22 July 2026. Headline index (all urban areas, base Dec 2024=100) stood at 107,5 in June 2026 vs 106,7 in May 2026 and 102,4 in June 2025. This is the highest South African inflation print since June 2024 (5,1%) and the sixth straight month of the index accelerating off the January 2026 low. Main contributors to the 5,0% annual rate: transport 12,7% (contributing 1,7pp), housing and utilities 5,5% (1,3pp), insurance and financial services 5,9% (0,6pp). Transport is doing the work — fuel prices rose 34,3% over the twelve months to June (diesel +50,8%, petrol +31,7%), which is a Middle-East-conflict oil-price shock passing straight through. Goods inflation 4,8% (from 4,4%), services 5,2% (from 4,7%); core (CPI excluding food, NAB, fuel and energy) is much tamer at 4,1% and the trimmed mean at 3,4%, so the headline overstates the underlying pressure. Administered prices are the outlier at 15,5% YoY. CONTEXT THAT CHANGES THE READING: since 12 November 2025 the SARB targets 3% with a ±1pp band, not the old 3-6% range — so 5,0% is now ABOVE the top of the tolerance band, whereas under the old regime it would have sat comfortably inside it. That is why the MPC hiked in May 2026 and held with a hawkish 4-2 split in July 2026. Recent monthly YoY history (Table B2): 2025 — Jan 3,2 Feb 3,2 Mar 2,7 Apr 2,8 May 2,8 Jun 3,0 Jul 3,5 Aug 3,3 Sep 3,4 Oct 3,6 Nov 3,5 Dec 3,6 (2025 annual average 3,2%); 2026 — Jan 3,5 Feb 3,0 Mar 3,1 Apr 4,0 May 4,5 Jun 5,0. Note the CPI was rebased and reweighted to Dec 2024=100 with the January 2025 release, so index levels are not directly comparable to pre-2025 published series (rates are). Next release: July 2026 CPI on 19 August 2026 (P0141, enquiries Andrew Rankhumise). Access note: the P0141 PDF at statssa.gov.za is machine-readable but returns compressed streams to HTML-oriented fetchers — parse it as a PDF. The Stats SA HTML summary (https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=19757, 'Inflation rises to a two-year high') carries the same headline figures.
Earlier values
| From | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-01 | 3.5 | Stats SA — P0141 Consumer Price Index, June 2026, Table B2: |
| 2026-02-01 | 3 | Stats SA — P0141 Consumer Price Index, June 2026, Table B2: |
| 2026-03-01 | 3.1 | Stats SA — P0141 Consumer Price Index, June 2026, Table B2: |
| 2026-04-01 | 4 | Stats SA — P0141 Consumer Price Index, June 2026, Table B2: |
| 2026-05-01 | 4.5 | Stats SA — P0141 Consumer Price Index, June 2026, Table B2 ( |
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/za/cpi
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/za/cpi/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/za/cpiOther South Africa series: policy interest rate · VAT rate · minimum wage · public holidays · corporate tax rate · income tax rates · official exchange rates · statutory interest rate · VAT registration threshold · withholding tax rates