South African Retail Sales Surge While Inflation Remains Low

South Africa’s retail sales surged by a positive 6.3%, based on a year-on year comparison for October 2024 compared to October 2023.

This growth follows an upwardly revised 1.1% rise in sales in September 2024, marking the 8th consecutive month of growth in retail activity and the strongest run in growth of retail sales since July 2022.

Main Growth Contributors:

The largest positive contributors to this increase were general dealers, up +11.5% in sales for the month followed by retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment that saw a growth of +16.6%.

Textiles, clothing and footwear saw a 3.1% increase while retailers in pharmaceuticals and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries saw a +5.3%growth.

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail trade rose by 1.6% in October, after a revised 0.6% fall in the previous month. Retail trade sales increased by 3.6% in the three months ended October 2024 compared with the three months ended October 2023.

Inflation Still Remaining Low

Additional positive news for the South African Economy was todays Inflation numbers with Headline consumer price index (CPI) for all urban areas Annual consumer price inflation at  2,9% in November 2024.

While this was slightly up from 2,8%, measured in October 2024, it was still below forecasts of around 3,1% and below the Central Banks inflation target range of 3%-6%.

This will hopefully prompt the Monitory Policy Committee to reduce interest rates further at their next meeting in January 2025.

Transport was the major negative contributor at -3,3%