Johannesburg, Jul 24 (IANS): South Africa's consumer inflation maintained a downward streak with the consumer price index down to 5.1 percent in June from 5.2 per cent in May, according to data released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) Wednesday.

Patrick Kelly, chief director for price statistics at Stats SA, said that over the last 10 months, the consumer price index had stubbornly remained between 5 and 6 per cent.

In June, South Africa's annual food inflation hit the lowest level in 45 months since September 2020, the data showed.

"The inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages had finally lowered to 4.6 per cent after reaching its peak of 14 per cent in March last year," Kelly said, Xinhua news agency reported.

Housing and utilities in South Africa recorded an annual inflation rate of 5.5 per cent in June, which was lower than 5.8 per cent in May, while the annual transport inflation cooled to 5.5 per cent in June from 6.3 per cent a month ago, according to Kelly.

The data also showed that fuel prices in the country dropped 4.6 per cent in June, taking the annual inflation rate for fuel to 7.6 per cent from 9.3 per cent.