In March, annual inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to 6 percent, in line with the upper bound of the Bank of Botswana’s medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent. The marginal decline from 6.1 percent in February was underpinned by the continuing easing of food price inflation, which fell from 3.4 percent to 2.9 percent. Other commodity groups where inflation declined include housing, water and fuels (from 4.6 to 4 percent), furnishing, household equipment and maintenance (from 11 percent to 10.8 percent) and restaurants and hotels (from 7.9 percent to 7.1 percent). However, these were largely offset by rising inflation elsewhere, including for alcohol and tobacco (3.1 percent to 3.3 percent), clothing and footwear (8 percent to 8.5 percent), recreation and culture (from 6.4 percent to 6.9 percent) and miscellaneous goods and services (5.3 percent to 5.8 percent).

The trimmed mean core inflation rate fell by 0.2 percentage points from 6.7 percent to 6.5 percent, while inflation excluding administered prices fell by a similar magnitude from 5.8 percent to 5.6 percent.