According to Statistics Botswana, headline inflation fell from 7.9 percent in April to 5.7 percent in May 2023, reverting to within the Bank’s medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent, and was lower than the 11.9 percent in May 2022. The decrease in inflation between April and May 2023 was mainly due to the base effects associated with the upward adjustment of domestic fuel prices in May 2022 as reflected under the ‘Transport’ category for which inflation decreased from 11.2 to 4.2 percent, as well as restrained growth in the prices of ‘Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages from 16.6 to 14.3 percent. Meanwhile, there were partially offsetting movements in the annual price changes for other categories of goods and services, while for the ‘Communication’ category, prices were unchanged at 2.5 percent. Inflation fell with respect to: Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance (from 7.3 to 6.6 percent); Clothing and Footwear (from 6.3 to 5.8 percent); Recreation and Culture (from 2.6 to 2.1 percent); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (from 1.7 to 1.4 percent); Restaurants and Hotels (from 6.6 to 6.4 percent); and Education (from 5.2 to 5.1 percent). The downward pressure on inflation was partly offset by inflation increasing with respect to: Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (from 4.4 to 4.7 percent); Health (from 3.6 to 3.8 percent); and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (from 9.3 to 9.5 percent).
Similarly, the 16 percent trimmed mean inflation and inflation excluding administered prices decreased from 7.1 percent and 8.3 percent to 5.4 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively, in the same period.