Headline inflation accelerated in both Namibia and South Africa in June, and in both cases the story is the same: transport did the heavy lifting.
Namibia inflation rose to 4.4% year on year (y/y), up from 4.1% in May, while South African inflation climbed to 5.0% from 4.5%.
Beneath these headline moves, transport was the dominant contributor on each side of the border, adding 1.9 percentage points to the Namibian rate and 1.7 points to the South African rate.
In Namibia transport accounted for roughly 44% of total inflation despite carrying a basket weight of only 14.3%.
Namibian transport inflation reached 12.9% y/y, driven by operation of personal transport equipment, where petrol and diesel swung from -10.0% a year earlier to 27.1% in June.
South Africa shows the same pattern in sharper relief, with its fuel index up 34.3% y/y and operation of personal transport equipment up 26%.
Public and passenger transport reinforced the move, with Namibian public transportation services up 13.1% due to taxi price increases.
In Namibia the broader picture is disinflationary outside fuel: food and non-alcoholic beverages eased to 2.5% from 6.4% a year earlier and core inflation sits at just 3.3%, a full percentage point below the headline.
South Africa is running hotter beneath the surface, with services inflation at 5.2% and administered prices up 15.5%, pointing to more entrenched, broad-based pressure rather than a purely fuel-led spike.
