The Consumer Price Index (CPI) had a major increase from 4.0% in April 2026, up from 3.1% in March 2026 driven by rising fuel costs. This was the biggest increase in inflation since August 2024.
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South Africa’s annual consumer price inflation (CPI) accelerated sharply to 4.0% in April 2026 from 3.1% in March, and slightly above the expected 3.9%, driven mainly by a massive surge in fuel prices, according to the latest data from Statistics South Africa.
The increase marked the biggest jump in inflation since August 2024, when headline inflation reached 4.4%, and moved further away from the South African Reserve Bank’s 3% inflation target.
StatsSA chief director of price statistics, Patrick Kelly, said the sharp rise was largely due to soaring fuel costs.
“The index for fuel rose by 18.2% from March, the steepest monthly increase since the current CPI increase series started in 2008," Kelly said.
"Petrol prices were up by 15.2% and diesel by 35.4%. The price for inland 93 Octane petrol rose to R23.25 a litre, the fifth largest increase for this grade in 50 years and the largest this century.”
Kelly said that motorists using diesel felt the most pain; the average price for a litre of diesel jumped from R21.28 in March to R28.20 in April.
“The passenger transport index climbed by 3.1% between March and April, the largest monthly increase since July 2022.”
Kelly added that following a 14.3% hike in March, the price of an air ticket jumped by a further 24.5%; this is the largest monthly increase in airfares since March 2008.
Kelly said that in contrast to fuel price inflation, annual inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased for a third consecutive month.
“From 3.6% in March to 2.9% in April. Six of the eleven food and non-alcoholic beverages categories recorded lower rates. Meat recorded the largest decline, easing from 11.6% in March to 9.4% in April. The rate for pork moderated from 19.5% to 17.7%.”
The core inflation rate, which excludes prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, fuel, and energy, rose to 3.6%, the highest since December 2024, up from March's 3.2%.
On a monthly basis, the CPI rose by 1.1% in April, the most since July 2022, after a 0.6% increase in March.
John Loos, an independent economist, said the transport category was the primary driver behind the overall increase in inflation.
"The transport sub-index, the index within which fuel prices reside, increased its contribution to the overall CPI inflation rate significantly from -0.2 of a percentage point in March to +0.7 of a percentage point in April," he said.
“This swing was largely responsible for the surge in CPI inflation to 4%.”
Loos added that the highest inflation rate of the major CPI sub-indices was that of Iisurance and financial services, recording 5.7% year-on-year, education at 5.4%, and restaurants and accommodation services at 5.2%.
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