Data from Statistics South Africa showed on Wednesday that the nation's headline consumer inflation slowed to 6.3 percent year-on-year in February from 6.6 percent in the previous month, matching consensus estimate in a Reuters poll. This was the weakest inflation reading since September 2016, when prices had risen 6.1 percent.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation rose to 1.1 percent from 0.6 percent previously. The month-on-month rise missed expectations at 1.2 percent. Core inflation which excludes the prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, petrol and energy, inched lower to 5.2 percent year-on-year in February from 5.5 percent and rose to 1.1 percent on a month-on-month basis from 0.3 percent.
Separate data from South Africa's Reserve Bank on Wednesday showed South Africa's current account deficit narrowed to 1.7 percent of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2016. The reading was the lowest shortfall in nearly six years, and compared to a revised deficit of 3.8 percent in the third quarter.
Analysts had expected a 3.5 percent deficit for the quarter. For the year as a whole, the current account deficit narrowed to 3.3 percent of GDP from 4.4 percent in 2015.
