According to Statistics Botswana, headline inflation decreased significantly from 12.4 percent in December 2022 to 9.3 percent in January 2023, but remained above the Bank’s medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent, and was lower than the 10.6 percent in January 2022. The decrease in inflation between December 2022 and January 2023 mainly reflects the base effects associated with the increase in domestic fuel prices and transport fares in January 2022 and the downward adjustment in domestic fuel prices in December 2022 and January 2023, as reflected under the ‘Transport’ category for which inflation decreased from 29.3 to 15.4 percent. Meanwhile, there were partially offsetting movements in the annual price change for other categories of goods and services. Inflation fell with respect to: Miscellaneous Goods and Services (from 9.4 to 8.7 percent); Recreation and Culture (from 3.8 to 3.5 percent); Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (from 2.6 to 2.4 percent); Health (from 3.5 to 2.8 percent); and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (from 4.7 to 4.6 percent). The downward pressure on inflation was partly offset by inflation increasing with respect to: Education (from 1.6 to 5.5 percent); Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (from 16.9 to 17.2 percent); Restaurants and Hotels (from 5.8 to 6 percent); and Communication (from 2.6 to 2.7 percent). Inflation remained unchanged for: Clothing and Footwear (5.3 percent); and Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance (6.2 percent).
Meanwhile, the 16 percent trimmed mean inflation decreased from 11.2 percent in December 2022 to 8.5 percent in January 2023, while inflation excluding administered prices increased from 8.7 percent to 9.1 percent in the same period.