In July, annual inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined by a further 1.0 percentage points to 6.0 percent, from 7.0 percent in May, bringing the headline measure of inflation in line with the upper end of the Bank of Botswana’s 3 – 6 percent objective for the first time since July 2007. This fall was due to the continuing easing of inflation in food and fuel prices: as a result, the annual rate of price increase fell for food and non-alcoholic beverages from 15.3 percent to 14.7 percent and for transport from -14.7 percent to -19.3 percent. However, in other categories, inflation either remained unchanged or increased. In particular, price increases accelerated for clothing and footwear (from 7.3 percent to 9.2 percent), furnishing and household equipment (from 13.2 percent to 14.2 percent), recreation and culture (from 4.5 to 6.3 percent) and miscellaneous goods and services (from 3.6 percent to 4.7 percent).
The trimmed mean measure of core inflation was 7.4 percent in June, a fall of 0.1 percentage points from 7.5 percent in May. Excluding administered prices, inflation rose by 0.7 percentage points from 13.8 percent to 14.2 percent.