In October, headline inflation fell to 2.7 percent from 2.8 percent in September. According to the latest data from Statistics Botswana, inflation fell for some commodity groups, including: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 2.8 to 2.5 percent); clothing and footwear (from 5.7 to 5.2 percent); transport (from -1.7 to -1.8 percent); and restaurants and hotels (from 3.9 to 3.2 percent). However, this was partly offset by rising inflation for: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 3.1 to 3.3 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (from 4.1 to 4.2 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 7.4 to 7.7 percent). Inflation was unchanged for: furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (2.4 percent); health (2.6 percent); communication (0.0 percent); recreation and culture (1.8 percent); and education (3.6 percent).

The trimmed mean measure of core inflation and inflation excluding administered prices fell from 2.6 to 2.2 percent and 3.6 to 3.4 percent, respectively.  

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been rebased from September 2006 to September 2016 and the consumer basket composition and weights adjusted based on the results of the 2009/10 Botswana Core Welfare Indicators Survey. The change also entailed an increase in the basket items from 384 to 393, while categorisation into 51 sections and 12 commodity groups was maintained.