In October 2017, headline inflation fell to 3.0 percent from 3.2 percent in September. According to the latest data from Statistics Botswana, inflation fell for some commodity groups, including: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 2.8 to 2.4 percent); alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 5.0 to 4.1 percent); clothing and footwear (from 3.0 to 2.9 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (from 5.8 to 5.7 percent); recreation and culture (from 2.2 to 2.1 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 2.8 to 2.4 percent). However, this was partly offset by rising inflation forhealth (from 2.0 to 2.1 percent) and restaurants and hotels (from 3.7 to 3.8 percent). Inflation was unchanged for: furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (3.1 percent); transport (1.7 percent); communication (1.3 percent); and education (4.2 percent).
The trimmed mean measure of core inflation and inflation excluding administered prices fell from 2.7 to 2.6 percent and 3.0 to 2.8 percent, respectively.