High food inflation could have been avoided: DA

23 September 2016 - 19:21 By Ernest Mabuza

High food inflation could have been avoided if government had taken urgent action and declared the drought a national disaster earlier this year. This would have freed up funding that would have resulted in better supply‚ and lower prices‚ the Democratic Alliance (DA) said in its Facebook page on Friday.The DA was reacting to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by Statistics South Africa on Wednesday‚ which showed that prices of food went up by 11.6% from August 2015 to August 2016.Staple foods such as bread and vegetables recorded the highest inflation‚ with bread and cereals increasing by 16%; fruit by 20% and vegetables by 15.4%.The DA said the drought was far from over and its effect would continue to be felt‚ particularly by the poorest of South Africans.The findings of Finmark Trust’s Finscope South Africa 2016 consumer survey‚ to be released on November 8‚ show that the average South African on average spent 21% on food‚ drinks and other groceries.This is the highest spend by South Africans‚ followed by spending on transport costs at 11%...

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