Food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation continues to accelerate, with prices increasing by 14% in the last year until March, representing the largest annual increase since March 2009.
According to data released by Statistics SA on Wednesday, milk, eggs and cheese; sugar, sweets and desserts, fruit and vegetables experienced upward inflationary pressure.
“The milk, eggs and cheese product group witnessed its annual rate reaching 13.6% from the recent low of 3.7% in April 2022. The reading in March is the highest annual increase since February 2009’s print of 13.9%.
“Bread and cereals, meat, oils and fats, and fish bucked the trend, recording slower growth. The annual increase for bread and cereals was 20.3% in March, down from 20.5% in February.
“Meat inflation edged lower to 10.6% from 11.4% in February. Prices of oils and fats decreased for a seventh successive month, dragging the annual rate to 16.0% from 16.7%,” Stats SA said.
Independent economist Professor Bonke Dumisa said the country would see more price hikes in the foreseeable future.
Dumisa said the high levels of food inflation spoke to the state of the country.
“It should be expected that when the South African Reserve Bank meets in May, they are going to hike the repo rate by another 50 basis points minimum. We are already expecting huge fuel prices.
“All this contributes to food inflation as it has a significant role in pushing up food prices. Things are bad and are expected to get worse. This is especially going to affect the lower income groups and the poor.
“I wish I could say we have reached the peak of inflation, but it's looking bleak,” he said.
By the end of March, the Household Affordability Index by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity group (PMBEJD) reported that its data showed that the month-on-month cost of the average household food basket increased by R37.87 (0.8%) from R4 928.34 in February 2023 to R4 966.20 in March 2023, with the minimum wage per general worker being R4 473.92.
Noliphiwe Dike, a single mother of two who works in retail, said the statistics were the tip of the iceberg as more households were struggling to put food on the table.
“Between having to make alternative means to cook during load shedding and actually buying that food, it's a lot.
One is basically left with nothing after payday. By the time you get paid you already have nothing for the rest of the month because you have to pay back a lot of people,” she said.
Food for Life Africa spokesperson Lisa Sukdev said more and more families were going hungry.
“We are also seeing more children going to school just for the meal,” she said.
“The numbers are rising daily and the economy has not recovered from a lot of things, including Covid-19, the July unrest and the KZN floods.
“Everything is going up and it makes you wonder how people are going to survive.”
Cape Times