By Sapa

Pretoria - Year-on-year consumer price inflation less mortgage costs (CPIX) rose to 6.6 percent last month from 6.4 percent in June, Statistics SA reported on Tuesday.

July's 6.6 percent rate was mainly due to annual increases in food, housing, education, and medical care and health expenses, Stats SA said in a statement.

The same factors contributed to the headline inflation of 5.2
percent, which was 1.5 percentage points lower than June's 6.7 percent.  

Food prices increased at a slower pace. In July, food was 7.3
percent higher than a year before, compared to the 8.6 percent of June.

The main contributors to the latest food inflation figure were grain products, meat, milk, cheese and eggs, vegetables and what Stats SA classified as "other" food products. - Sapa