SA stats accused of overestimating inflation

South Africa's government statistics bureau is overestimating inflation by more than two percentage points, Investec, an asset management firm, has argued.

Investec has said that inflation as recorded by Statistics South Africa, the official provider of price data, fails to consider changes in spending patterns.

The bureau announced in early 2007 that it would introduce new CPI weights based on the 2005/6 Income and Expenditure Survey. Investec said it had delayed introducing the changes by t