2011, consumer prices are rising in South Africa to previously unimaginable heights. The official inflation rate is indeed lower than 6%, increase the prices for key products such as food, gasoline, electricity and administration fee of municipalities, however dramatic.
In most cases, the wage increases based on the official inflation rates, which means in practice for many South Africans a purchasing power loss. In order to understand the magnitude bit, the biggest Sunday newspaper in the country “Sunday Times” the prices of the four largest grocery chains in 2009 and 2011 compared.
The rise in prices of traded products they amounted to more than 30%. Electricity prices became more expensive by 58%, gasoline by 36%. The municipalities had to because of rising wages of their employees increase the fees by 72%. Further price increases for electricity and the introduction of a toll system in the greater Johannesburg will increase the suffering of consumers even further.
And to make matters even more dramatic, most industry analysts expect an increase in interest rates. Many loans are variable here, which brought in the past two years, a degree of relief, because interest rates were historically low. Since most consumers in South Africa loans for cars or apartments have to pay, which amounts to a auesserst unfavorable moment.
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