Taste and Lewis results will shine a light on the health of SA consumers
The inflationary effects of October’s R1/l petrol and R1.24/l diesel price increases will be revealed by Stats SA’s CPI data
How South African consumers are struggling will be in focus on Wednesday, with results from furniture retailer Lewis and fast food franchiser Taste, along with Stats SA’s monthly consumer price index (CPI). The CPI release for October at 10am will provide a clue as to the likelihood of Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago announcing an interest rate increase at 3pm on Thursday. It will reveal the inflationary effect of October’s R1/l petrol and R1.24/l diesel price increases. The consensus of a poll of economists done by Trading Economics is inflation, as measured by the annual change in CPI, will have accelerated to about 5.1% from September’s 4.9%. Although inflation remains well under the Reserve Bank’s 6% ceiling, concern that inflation will continue rising may prompt the central bank to raise its repo rate from 6.5% to 6.75%. South African banks by convention add 350 basis points to the central bank’s repo rate to set the prime rate they charge on home, car and other loans. A...
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