THE SA inflation rate in all three key measures - headline, CPIX and core - continued to ease downward in September. And, despite the disastrous news from the US, the Standard Bank economist, Monica Ambrosi, expects this to continue. "Inflation is likely to remain on a downward trend for the rest of the year," she said, "although the pace of decline may slow." The global economy is in a disinflationary phase, according to Ambrosi, "underpinned" as she put it, by low economic growth and low commodity prices. "Unutilised domestic production capacity relative to aggregate demand exists, productivity is rising and wage increases have not been unusually high. "All these factors - coupled with favourable September inflation data - augur well for a decline in interest rates when the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) meets in November." However, compared to August, Ambrosi added, inflationary pressures rose in September.
