South Africa's inflation nudges up to 3.6% in December: What it means for consumers

SOUTH Africa's inflation rate edged slightly higher in December, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures released by Statistics SA on Wednesday.

- YOGASHEN PILLAY

Inflation rose to 3.6% in December 2025 from 3.5% in November.Prices increased by 0.2% compared with November, meaning consumers paid slightly more for everyday goods and services during the month. Economists said the small rise was expected.

Frank Blackmore, the lead economist at KPMG South Africa, said December CPI numbers, which came in at 3.6% for December 2025, are slightly higher than the 3.5% recorded in November. “Core inflation also rose marginally to 3.3% from 3.2% last year. The main contributor to this inflation was housing and utilities, which added one-third or 1.2 percentage points of that 3.6%, and most notably there it was obviously both electricity price increases at 7.9% and water at 7% that did most of the increase there.”