South Africa’s annual inflation rate for 2024 dropped to 4.4 percent, the lowest level since 2020, the national statistics bureau announced Wednesday.

While monthly consumer inflation increased slightly in December to 3.0 percent from 2.9 percent the previous month, the annual rate fell from the 2023 figure of 6.0 percent, it said.

“Inflation in 2024 was the lowest in four years since the pandemic in 2020, when the average rate was 3.3 percent,” it said in a statement.

South Africa, Africa’s most industrialised country, is the continent’s leading economy, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Its 2024 inflation rate is within the central bank’s target of 4.5 percent.

The bank will announce later this month if it will again trim its benchmark interest rate, which stands at 7.75 percent after a 25 basis points cut in November.