{
  "id": "cpi-headline",
  "title": "Headline inflation",
  "description": "South Africa's headline CPI was 4.5% year-on-year in September 2026, up from 4.4% in August and 4.3% in July; the index rose 0.4% between August and September. Inflation peaked at 5.0% in June, the highest since June 2024. Transport (10.8%, contributing 1.5 percentage points), housing and utilities (5.2%, 1.3 points) and insurance and financial services (5.4%, 0.6 points) were the main contributors. The SARB's inflation target is 3% with a tolerance band of ±1 percentage point.",
  "unit": "%",
  "category": "inflation",
  "latest": {
    "value": 4.5,
    "display": "4.5%"
  },
  "source": {
    "publisher": "Statistics South Africa",
    "publication": "Consumer Price Index September 2026",
    "url": "https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=20031",
    "releasedOn": "2026-10-21"
  },
  "checkedOn": "2026-10-26",
  "page": "https://sadatahub.tech/series/cpi-headline",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "citation": "Statistics South Africa (2026). Consumer Price Index September 2026. Series \"Headline inflation\" via SA Data Hub, https://sadatahub.tech/series/cpi-headline (checked 2026-10-26).",
  "points": [
    {
      "period": "May 2025",
      "value": 2.8
    },
    {
      "period": "Jun 2025",
      "value": 3
    },
    {
      "period": "Jul 2025",
      "value": 3.5
    },
    {
      "period": "Aug 2025",
      "value": 3.3
    },
    {
      "period": "Sep 2025",
      "value": 3.4
    },
    {
      "period": "Oct 2025",
      "value": 3.6
    },
    {
      "period": "Nov 2025",
      "value": 3.5
    },
    {
      "period": "Dec 2025",
      "value": 3.6
    },
    {
      "period": "Jan 2026",
      "value": 3.5
    },
    {
      "period": "Feb 2026",
      "value": 3
    },
    {
      "period": "Mar 2026",
      "value": 3.1
    },
    {
      "period": "Apr 2026",
      "value": 4
    },
    {
      "period": "May 2026",
      "value": 4.5
    },
    {
      "period": "Jun 2026",
      "value": 5
    },
    {
      "period": "Jul 2026",
      "value": 4.3
    },
    {
      "period": "Aug 2026",
      "value": 4.4
    },
    {
      "period": "Sep 2026",
      "value": 4.5
    }
  ],
  "revisions": [],
  "changeLog": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-27",
      "type": "correction",
      "summary": "Eight values corrected to the official rates in the Stats SA CPI history file (Table B2). Headline CPI: June 2025 3.2% to 3.0%, July 3.3% to 3.5%, August 3.4% to 3.3%, September 3.5% to 3.4%, October 3.3% to 3.6%, November 3.0% to 3.5%, December 3.2% to 3.6%. Annual average CPI for 2018: 4.6% to 4.7%."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-19",
      "type": "data-update",
      "summary": "CPI updated to September 2026 (headline 4.5%, food 1.2%; published 2026-10-21). Repo rate corrected from 6.75% to 7.25% (SARB MPC 2026-09-23). Correction: July 2026 MPC was a hold, not a hike. The hike was on 28 May 2026. Pre-April 2026 monthly CPI points not re-verified."
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-05-31",
      "type": "data-update",
      "summary": "Inflation dataset metadata validated for monthly CPI release tracking."
    }
  ]
}