JOHANNESBURG, Oct 22 Reuters South Africa's headline inflation rate edged up in September, but the increase was smaller than expected and economists said they thought the central bank could restart interest rate cuts soon.
Headline consumer inflation quickened to 3.4 in annual terms from 3.3 in August, below the median forecast of 3.5 in a Reuters poll.
A breakdown by Statistics South Africa showed the main drivers of the marginally higher rate were housing and utilities and food and non-alcoholic beverages, which both came in at 4.5 year-on-year last month.