Competition Commission report confirms rising cost of food crisis
29 March 2023
Last week, StatsSA unveiled a disquieting 7.1% increase in inflation. A closer examination of the numbers exposes a far more distressing reality: food prices have surged even more, and the food price crisis continues unabated.
The Essential Food Pricing Monitoring (EFPM) report released yesterday substantiates this, highlighting that basic and essential food items have seen steep price increases in the past year. The investigation scrutinized the prices of essential food products such as bread, cooking oils, maize meal, rice, flour, margarine, and pasta at the retail and wholesale levels.
From January to December 2022, white and brown bread retail prices rocketed by 20% and 19%, respectively. The price of maize meal surged by 32%, jumping from R26.62 to R35.29. These steep price hikes hit poor and vulnerable South Africans the hardest.
The upward spiralling cost-of-living is the direct result of the ANC's disjointed economic policies that obstruct economic growth. In times of inflation, market friendly fiscal policies are necessary to cushion the impact of rising prices, yet the government continues to neglect, or even mention, the cost of living crisis.