For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines: South Africa consumer inflation falls to 3.5% y/y in January; AfriForum serves summons on Ramaphosa, Motsoaledi over NHI Act; And, Namibia central bank keeps interest rate steady for second meeting in a row

South Africa consumer inflation falls to 3.5% y/y in January

South Africa's inflation rate eased slightly in January and economists expect it to remain subdued, keeping the door open for more interest rate cuts by the central bank.

Headline consumer inflation slowed to 3.5% year on year in January, down from 3.6% in December.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected annual inflation would come in at 3.4% in January.

The modest slowdown keeps headline inflation within the 1 percentage-point tolerance band of the central bank's 3% target.

A breakdown by Statistics South Africa showed the main contributors to January's inflation rate were housing and utilities, food and non-alcoholic beverages, and insurance and financial services.

AfriForum serves summons on Ramaphosa, Motsoaledi over NHI Act

Civil society organisation AfriForum today served a summons on President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, as part of its legal action to challenge the constitutionality of the National Health Insurance Act.

AfriForum has expressed criticism of the Act, since its signing in 2024.

AfriForum health spokesperson Louis Boshoff said considering South Africa’s current political and economic climate, the NHI was “completely unworkable”.

AfriForum head of public relations Ernst van Zyl said the NHI Act contained provisions that “not only affect the constitutional rights of AfriForum’s members, but also those of the public in general”.

The organisation noted that although other institutions had already instituted legal proceedings against the Act, its legal action was the first of its kind against this law.

And, Namibia central bank keeps interest rate steady for second meeting in a row

Namibia's central bank kept its policy rate unchanged at 6.50% in the first rate-setting meeting under new governor Ebson Uanguta.

The bank also held the rate in December, saying South Africa's lower inflation target required additional vigilance by Namibian authorities in managing domestic inflation.

The two neighbours' economies are closely intertwined, with the Namibian dollar pegged 1:1 to South Africa's rand.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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