Inflation rates experienced
by different groups of consumers within a country vary. This is because the
prices of goods and services and the expenditure patterns of consumers differ.
The published inflation rate is used for important decisions regarding the preservation
of consumer purchasing power. These include the adjustment of social grants and
minimum wages by government and the benchmarking of returns by investors when
making investment decisions. It is thus vital that inflation is measured
accurately to ensure the purchasing power of consumers is preserved. Current
measures of inflation published by Stats SA are applicable to typical consumers
and are not relevant to each individual. This resource supplements a study that seeks to provide a publicly
available model that can be used by consumers to calculate their personal rate
of inflation.