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PPS Investments commentary on CPI for May 2019

By: Luigi Marinus, Portfolio Manager at PPS Investments  

Cape Town, 19 June 2019 – Consumer price inflation (CPI) increased by 4.5% year-on-year in May 2019 and was slightly higher than the 4.4% year-on-year increase in the previous month. There were small changes to transport and the residual, in terms of year-on-year contributions. The latest increase marks the sixth consecutive month that year-on-year inflation was at or below the midpoint of the target band. Inflation last breached the top-end of the target band in March 2017.

Month-on-month inflation increased by 0.3%, compared to 0.6% in April. The contribution from transport for the month decreased from 0.4% in April to 0.1% in May. This has signalled a slowdown in month-on-month inflation after the 0.8% increase in February and March, and the 0.6% increase in April.

The ability of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to keep inflation in check has meant that the Reserve Bank Governor has come under further pressure to reduce interest rates. Following the recently reported disappointing GDP growth level and some questions around the mandate of the SARB, there may be an opportunity for the Governor to act decisively at a time when South African consumers need it most.

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PPS has more than 150 000 members who enjoy access to a comprehensive suite of financial and healthcare products that are specifically tailored to meet the needs of graduate professionals.

PPS is the largest South African company of its kind, exclusively for graduate professionals, that still embraces an ethos of mutuality, which means that it exists solely for the benefit of its members. Members receive profit allocations based on the qualifying life risk products they hold with PPS. Thus, PPS members with qualifying products could share in the profits of PPS Insurance, PPS Investments, PPS Short-Term Insurance and PPS Healthcare Administrators via annual allocations to the unique PPS Profit-Share Account. In addition, the more products members hold across these PPS businesses, the larger their percentage of earnings through the PPS Cross-Holdings Profit-Share Booster.

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