According to Statistics Botswana, headline inflation fell from 8.8 percent in October 2021 to 8.6 percent in November 2021, remaining above the upper bound of the Bank’s medium-term objective range of 3 - 6 percent, and substantially higher than 2.2 percent in November 2020. The decrease in inflation between October and November 2021 mainly reflects the fall in the rate of annual price change for the ‘transport’ category (from 19.3 to 18.7 percent), due to the decrease in prices for purchasing vehicles as the Pula gained strength against the South African rand. Meanwhile, there were partially offsetting movements in the annual price changes for some categories of goods and services, while for a few, prices remained unchanged. Inflation fell with respect to: Miscellaneous Goods and Services (from 7.4 to 7 percent); Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance (from 5 to 4.8 percent); Recreation and Culture (4.3 to 4.1 percent); Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages (from 6.8 to 6.7 percent); and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (from 8.2 to 8.1 percent). The downward pressure on inflation was partly offset by inflation increasing with respect to: Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (from 8.8 to 9.2 percent); Clothing and Footwear (from 3.8 to 4 percent); Communication (from 1 to 1.1 percent); and Restaurants and Hotels (from 4.1 to 4.2 percent). Inflation remained unchanged for: Health (2.9 percent) and Education (2.8 percent).
Similarly, the 16 percent trimmed mean inflation and inflation excluding administered prices decreased from 8.2 percent and 7.2 percent to 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively, in the same period.