Food Prices On The Rise
Mbongeni Mguni | Monday October 26, 2020 15:55
Numbers released recently by Statistics Botswana indicate that by September, meat prices were up 7.8 percent from what they were 12 months before, while bread and cereal prices were up 5.9 percent. Prices of fruits were up 5.8 percent while milk and related products were higher by two percent.
The only food item whose prices were lower than they were 12 months was fish, which was cheaper by 2.3 percent.
Each month, Statistics Botswana tracks the prices of various commodities using indices and sub-indices to produce the Consumer Price Index, the measure of inflation.
While inflation for September was recorded at 1.8 percent, continuing the low levels seen for most of the year, indices tracking food prices show that these were on the rise during the year. As at September, food prices rose 2.1 percent higher than they were in March, Statistics Botswana figures show.
The prices of alcohol and tobacco were approximately 6.2 percent higher in September than they were 12 months before that, with most of the increase coming in the six months preceding September.
The increase in prices comes as President Mokgweetsi Masisi placed a moratorium on price increases across a broad spectrum of goods in April, as part of initiatives to protect households from predatory prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ahead of the lockdown, Masisi had ordered that traders not increase prices of food supplies, pharmaceuticals, and medical supplies and equipment.
In a Government Gazette regulation, the President had said these goods should be sold at cost, meaning suppliers, including traders and shops, should not put profit mark ups on them.
The only increases allowed under the regulation were those around transport and other costs passed from producer to retailer.
Earlier this year, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Peggy Serame, told BusinessMonitor that government was monitoring the situation and will take the action “when necessary”.
“We are aware and have been receiving reports that we have followed even though some were not true. We continue to take necessary precautions and call on consumers to be specific and report those who are overpricing so that we can go approach them and take action,” she said.
Serame is due to brief the media on the ministry’s performance from November 2019 to date.