Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) announced that inflation declined further toward the official target of 3.0% in February from 3.5% in January, and the statistical body says this was due to a delay in medical scheme adjustments.
“Annual consumer price inflation was 3.0% in February 2026, down from 3.5% in January 2026. The CPI increased by 0.4% month-on-month in February 2026,” the latest statistical release by Stats SA on CPI said.
Stats SA released the CPI print for February on Wednesday morning. The average CPI in the country for 2025 was at 3.2%, after the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) adjusted the official policy inflation target to 3%.
In January, the SARB’s Monetary Policy Committee chose to leave the repo rate unchanged at 6.75%. In the release, Statistician General Risenga Maluleke said the main contributors to the 3.0% annual inflation rate were housing and utilities, which were at 4.8% and contributed 1.1 percentage points, and food and non-alcoholic beverages at 3.7%, which contributed 0.7 of a percentage point.
“Insurance and financial services [were at 4.7% and contributed 0.5 of a percentage point. In February 2026, the annual inflation rate for goods was 1.9%, down from 2.7% in January 2026, and [the inflation for] services was 3.8%, down from 4.2% in January 2026.”
Patrick Kelly, Stats SA head of price statistics, said to understand why inflation decreased in February, it was important to compare the monthly change this year to the corresponding monthly change of the previous year.
“This February’s monthly print was lower than average for the month, and we attribute this to three main factors. First, there was a delay in the implementation of some new medical aid rates. Most medical aid schemes increase prices at the beginning of each year and are surveyed by Stats SA in February.
“This results in higher than average monthly rates. In February 2026, however, not all medical schemes had adjusted their contributions. This delay resulted in a lower monthly change in the CPI than might otherwise have been the case.”
He said those schemes that implemented an increase contributed to an average rise of 6.4% in the health insurance index, lower than the 10.5% recorded in the corresponding period for the previous year.
Health insurance has a weight of 6.2% in the inflation basket, meaning the delayed implementation had an impact. Kelly said if outstanding medical scheme contributions are implemented later in the year, they are expected to affect the headline rate.
He said the price of fuel decreased by 3.1% month-on-month, compared to a rise of 3.9% in February 2025, contributing to an annual decrease of 10.1% in the fuel index.
TimesLIVE
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