Headline inflation decreased from 13.8 percent in September 2022 to 13.1 percent in October 2022, remaining above the Bank’s medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent, and significantly higher than the 8.8 percent in October 2021. According to Statistics Botswana, the fall in inflation between September and October 2022 is mainly due to the base effects associated with the increase in domestic fuel prices in October 2021 as reflected under ‘Transport’ category (from 36.2 to 32.3 percent). Moreover, there were broad-based decreases in the annual price changes of the following categories of goods and services: Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (from 3.5 to 3.2 percent); Miscellaneous Goods and Services (from 9.4 to 9.1); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (from 5.6 to 5.4 percent); Restaurants and Hotels (from 5.5 to 5.3 percent); and Communication (from 1.7 to 1.6 percent). The downward pressure on inflation was partly offset by inflation increasing with respect to Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages (from 14.8 to 15.8 percent); Clothing and Footwear (from 4.7 to 5 percent); Health (from 2.8 to 3.1 percent); and Recreation and Culture (from 4.4 to 4.5 percent). Inflation remained unchanged for Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance (5.7 percent) and Education (1.6 percent).
Similarly, the 16 percent trimmed mean inflation decreased from 11.4 percent to 11.1 percent, while inflation excluding administered prices remained constant at 8 percent, in the same period.