Inflation up at 3.2%

Mbongeni Mguni | Tuesday January 16, 2018 13:00

 

According to data released by Statistics Botswana this morning, the rise in inflation was due to marginal increases in sectors such as ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’, ‘alcoholic beverages and tobacco’, and ‘transport’. 

Statistics Botswana measures inflation across a basket of goods and services, whose pricing is tracked by indices.  Each category is assigned a weighting, which reflects its impact on overall inflation. 

Of the categories with upward movement in December, transport had the most impact on inflation in December due to its comparatively superior weighting in the inflation basket. The transport category measures the pricing around the purchase of vehicles, operation of personal transport and transport services. 

The general increase in inflation for December was partly offset by the easing of prices in categories such as food and non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and footwear, furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance and communication. 

The latest inflation figures are in line with the Bank of Botswana’s mid-term review of the Monetary Policy Statement released in August, in which the central bank projected that inflation would open 2018 at about 3.3 percent.

The Bank of Botswana expects inflation to drop below three percent in the fourth quarter of the year and end 2018 at about 2.7 percent.