The figure has gone past the upper cap of the reviewed target range that was announced on Tuesday by Bank of Botswana governor, Linah Mohohlo.
The upward shift in inflation was from 3-6 percent and Mohohlo’s decision was influenced by general price increase pressures.
Four groups’ indices have pushed general price increases in the economy by over 1 percent in the month under review. They are fuel and power section, household operations, alcohol and tobacco and food. Fuel and power group index rose by 3.2 percent, from 189.6 in June to 195.6 in the month under review. The increase is largely blamed on an increase in the prices of liquid petroleum gas.
The household operations group index on the other hand increased by 2.4 percent, from 191.7 to 6.4. The rise is attributed to an increase of 4 percent in the constituent household consumables section index, which went up from 186.1 to 193.4.
Alcohol and tobacco edged up by 2.1 percent while the food category saw an increment of 1.7 percent.
The alcohol and tobacco group index rise was due to increases of 3.7 and 1.4 percent in the constituent, respectively. The tobacco section index rose from 337.7 to 350.2 in July, while the alcoholic beverages index moved from 196.9 to 199.6 over the period. For the food group index, the movement was from 172.3 recorded in June to 175.2 in July - a 1.7 percent increase. The increase in the group index was due to a general increase in the prices of food items, as increases were recorded in all the food section indices.
The national cost-of-living index for the month was 192.8, an increase of 1 percent on the June index of 190.9.
The towns and urban villages’ indices each rose by 1.1 percent - from 192.6 to 194.8 for towns and 188.5 to 190.5 in urban villages. The rural villages’ index went up by 0.3 percent over the period, from 187.2 to 187.8.
However, rural villages’ inflation rate marginally upped by 0.1 percent, from 8.2 percent to 83 percent. Towns and urban villages’ inflation rates increased by 1.4 and 0.9 percent respectively - from 6.8 to 8.2 percent and from 7.4 to 8.3 percent, between the two months.
The All Tradeables inflation rate went up by 1.6 percent, from 7.7 to 9.3 percent while domestic and imported tradeables’ inflation rates each recorded increases of 1.7 percent. The domestic tradeables’ inflation rate went up from 5.6 percent to 7.3 percent, while the imported tradeables’ rate rose from 8.7 to 10.4 percent over the same period.
The non-tradeables inflation rate stood at 5.8 percent, down from 5.9 percent in June - a marginal decrease of 0.1 of percent.
The all tradeables index rose by 1.3 percent, from 188.3 to 190.8, with the non- tradeables index going up slightly by 0.1 percent, from 197.6 to 197.7 in the month under review.
