Tuesday's release of consumer price data for March was broadly in line with market expectations and economists' predictions.
According to this data, the official inflation rate - the consumer price index (CPI) for the historical metropolitan areas at March 2005 compared with that at March 2004 - is 3 percent. This is 0.4 of a percentage point higher than the corresponding annual rate of 2.6 percent at February 2005.
The main contributors to the 3 percent inflation rate were similar to those for February 2005: increases in the price indices for housing, medical care and health expenses, transport, education, and food.
A similar trend is discerned in the annual percentage change in CPIX, which is CPI excluding the interest rate on mortgage bonds, for the historical metropolitan and other urban areas. CPIX is used by the SA Reserve Bank for inflation targeting.
This is 3.6 percent at March 2005 (that is, the CPIX at March 2005 compared with that at March 2004). In terms of monthly change, this rate is 0.5 of a percentage point higher than the rate of 3.1 percent in February.
The main contributors to this 3.6 percent increase in the CPIX are the price indices for housing (excluding interest rates on mortgage bonds), medical care and health expenses, transport, food, education, and fuel and power.
There are, however, other indicators released each month as part of the overall suite of consumer price data. Indices are also calculated for different geographical areas and different groups of products.
There is even a CPI calculated for pensioners in different geographical areas, based on the assumption that the impact of inflation is experienced differentially by various social and income groups. Some of these do not always receive the same attention as CPIX and the official rate of inflation.
For example, Statistics SA calculates a set of indices for food inflation every month. The annual rate of increase in food prices for the historical metropolitan areas is 1.5 percent at March 2005 compared with that at March 2004.
This was mainly due to annual increases in the prices of meat, milk, cheese and eggs, fish and other seafood, fruit and nuts, sugar, and fats and oils.
In monthly terms, the rate of increase as at March 2005 is 0.1 of a percentage point higher than that at February 2005. Various price indices are, in addition, calculated for different geographical areas (the historical metropolitan areas, rural areas and the country as a whole).
In the rural areas, the inflation rate is 1.6 percent at March 2005 compared with that at March 2004. This is 1.4 percentage points lower than the official rate in the historical metropolitan areas, and 0.4 of a percentage point lower than the corresponding annual rate of 2 percent at February 2005.
This lower rate of increase in the rural areas as at March 2005 compared with that at February 2005 can, in part, be explained by decreases in the annual rates of change for the CPI for furniture and equipment (minus 0.6 percent at February 2005 to a lower rate of minus 1.7 percent at March 2005), non-alcoholic beverages (from 6.8 percent at February 2005 to a lower rate of 3.7 percent at March 2005), and for food (a decrease from 0.2 percent at February 2005 to minus 0.6 percent at March 2005).
These decreases were slightly counteracted by increases in the annual rates of change for the CPI for fuel and power (an increase from 6.8 percent at February 2005 to 7.8 percent at March 2005), and for transport.
Showing a similar trend, the CPIX for rural areas as at March 2005, compared with March 2004, was lower than the CPIX for the historical metropolitan areas (1.8 percent compared with 3.5 percent). Some might find it strange that inflation in the rural areas is lower than in the main urban areas.
One of the reasons for this may be that food prices are a greater influence on inflation in rural communities than they are in the urban areas, and the rate of food inflation decreased in the rural areas between February and March 2005 (from 0.2 percent in February to minus 0.6 percent in March).
There is a depth not immediately visible in Stats SA's monthly consumer price data; when analysed, this can reveal much more than the headline-catching official rate of inflation and the CPIX in the urban areas.
Pali Lehohla is the statistician-general and head of Statistics SA. For more information on Stats SA and its statistical outputs, including the latest CPI data, visit www.statssa.gov.