Headline inflation rose marginally from 2.2 percent in December 2020 to 2.3 percent in January 2021, remaining below the lower bound of the Bank’s medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent and slightly higher than the 2.2 percent in January 2020. According to Statistics Botswana, the marginal increase in inflation between December 2020 and January 2021 reflects the increase in annual price changes for most categories of goods and services: Transport (from -2.5 to -1.7 percent) - primarily due to the increase in the purchase prices of vehicles; Health (from 1.6 to 2.2 percent); Recreation and Culture (from 0.9 to 1.3 percent); Miscellaneous Goods and Services (from 1 to 1.3 percent); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (from 6.9 to 7 percent); and Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance (from 2 to 2.1 percent). Inflation fell with respect to: Education (4.7 to 1.8 percent); Restaurants and Hotels (2.3 to 1.5 percent); Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (from 3.6 to 3.4 percent); Clothing and Footwear (from 2.8 to 2.7 percent); and Communication (from 0.8 to 0.7 percent). Meanwhile, inflation remained stable for Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (6.5 percent).
Similarly, the 16 percent trimmed mean inflation and inflation excluding administered prices increased slightly from 2.1 percent and 3.3 percent to 2.2 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively, in the same period.