Headline inflation increased from 2.9 percent in March 2024, to 3.1 percent in April 2024, reverting to within the medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent, but was significantly lower than the 7.9 percent in April 2023. The increase in inflation between March and April 2024 is mainly due to the increase in domestic fuel prices effected on 18 April 2024 and the upward adjustment in medical aid premiums, which added approximately 0.48 percentage points and 0.51 percentage points to inflation, respectively. Inflation for domestic tradeables decreased from 4.3 percent to 3.7 percent between March and April 2024, due to a broad-based deceleration in food price increases. Conversely, imported tradeables inflation increased from 2.6 percent to 3.3 percent in the same period, mainly on account of the increase in domestic fuel prices in April 2024. As a result, all tradeables inflation increased from 3 percent to 3.4 percent in the same period. Meanwhile, inflation for non-tradeables decreased slightly from 2.8 percent to 2.7 percent in the same period.
Similarly, the 16 percent trimmed mean inflation increased from 2.6 percent to 2.9 percent, while inflation excluding administered prices decreased from 3.7 percent to 3.1 percent during the same period.