In February, headline inflation increased to 3.0 percent from 2.7 percent in January. According to the latest data from Statistics Botswana, inflation increased for: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 1.2 to 1.5 percent); transport (from -6.0 to -3.2 percent); and recreation and culture (from 6.5 to 6.8 percent). However, this was partly offset by inflation easing with respect to: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 3.9 to 3.1 percent); clothing and footwear (from 7.9 to 7.4 percent); furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (from 4.4 to 3.6 percent); restaurants and hotels (from 5.7 to 4.4 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 7.6 to 7.0 percent). Inflation was unchanged for: housing water, electricity, gas and other fuels (9.7 percent); health (3.4 percent); communication (0.5 percent); and education (3.7 percent).

The trimmed mean measures of core inflation and inflation excluding administered prices decreased from 2.8 to 2.6 percent and 4.0 to 3.7 percent, respectively.