With inflation appearing to be under control, the MPC is likely to keep the repo rate on hold at 8.25% and the prime lending rate at 11.75%.

South Africa's annual consumer price inflation (CPI) edged up marginally to 4.8% year on year in August, from 4.7% in July, Stats SA reported on Wednesday, which means the South African Reserve Bank is unlikely to lower the repo rate -- for now.

The statistics agency's data shows that the CPI increased by 0.3% month on month in August.

The biggest contributors to the 4.8% annual inflation rate were food and non-alcoholic beverages (which increased by 8% year on year and contributed 1.4 percentage points); housing and utilities (up by 5.5% YoY, contributing 1.3 percentage points); and miscellaneous goods and services (up 6.2% year on year, contributing 0.9 of a percentage point).

In August, the annual inflation rate for goods was 5.6%, up from 5.5% in July; and for services it was 4% (unchanged from July).

The release of the latest inflation data comes a day before the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee wraps up its three-day meeting.

With inflation appearing to be under control, the MPC is likely to keep the repo rate on hold at 8.25% and the prime lending rate at 11.75%.

Economists polled in a Bloomberg rate-decision survey before Stats SA's release predicted that...