This was according to Stats SA figures released on Wednesday.
The figures represent the first turn around in the rising trend of inflation since November 2012, Laura Campbell, a senior economist at Ecometrix, told Farmers Weekly.
Prices of maize and other agricultural commodities have fallen sharply in recent months – one of the contributing factors towards a topping out in inflation, she said.
“Petrol prices have stopped increasing to the same extent as they were doing last year, and the rand has stabilised this year, so the pass-through effects of rising import costs would tend to dissipate.”
The latest inflation rate marked the highest rate of price rises in almost five years. High inflation erodes the buying power of consumer income and was one of the reasons the Reserve Bank increased interest rates by 25 basis points last week.
Campbell said consumers could expect a further hike of 25 basis points in interest rates later this year and a further 50 to 100 basis points rise in interest rates over the course of 2015.
