After two consecutive quarters of decline, the South African economy spluttered back to life in the second quarter of 2017. Positive contributions to higher economic activity across most industries – in particular agriculture, finance and mining – lifted the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2,5% quarter-on-quarter (seasonally adjusted and annualised). Agriculture continued to show strong   read more »

Media advisory                                                                                                             read more »

International Whisk(e)y Day is on 27 March1. If you consider yourself a connoisseur of bourbon or rye, then the following is for you. Take a brief tour of what Stats SA has to say about whiskey in terms of its popularity and price. If whiskey is your preferred alcoholic beverage, you stand somewhat apart from   read more »

MEDIA RELEASE                                                                                                                             27 January 2017 New basket and weights for the Consumer Price Index (CPI)   There are 412 products and services in the new CPI basket, an increase from 396, which now includes new products such as instant noodles, frozen pizzas and pies, and ready-mixed flour products. Stats SA announced the changes to the   read more »

Stats SA recently announced changes to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket of goods and services. The changes provide interesting insight into how consumer spending patterns have shifted over the last four years. The basket forms the basis from which the monthly CPI is calculated. There are 412 products and services in the new basket,   read more »

MEDIA ADVISORY                                                                                           17 January 2017   Release of the Living Conditions Survey and the new weights for the Consumer Price Index (CPI)   Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) will release the results of the Living Conditions Survey (LCS) 2014/2015 and the new weights for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Friday, 27 January 2017 at   read more »

Come join us as we tell a story of South African business performance over time. There are three elements to this story, taken from Stats SA’s latest Annual financial statistics (AFS) report1: income, expenditure and profit. First, let’s explore income. The income generated by the formal business2 sector has increased consistently, except for the dip   read more »

To bean or not to bean – a look at the price of your cup of coffee   Coffee. The lifeblood of many. The cup that jumpstarts your morning. The lack thereof creates zombies in offices across the world daily. The joys of drinking coffee are beautifully expressed in Johann Sebastian Bach’s Coffee Cantata, which   read more »

 Media advisory                                                                                          19 September 2016   Release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), August 2016   The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August 2016 will be released at a media briefing on Wednesday, 21 September 2016 in Pretoria. The CPI is the primary indicator for the measurement of monetary policy and changes in   read more »

Industry growth rates depend on many factors, and the South African manufacturing industry is no exception. The state of the local and global economy and the rand exchange rate are some of the factors that are watched closely when assessing the performance of manufacturing production.   Figure 1 shows the severe impact of the global   read more »