In December, headline inflation increased to 3.0 percent from 2.9 percent in November. According to the latest data from Statistics Botswana, inflation increased for: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 3.8 to 3.9 percent); health (from 2.7 to 2.8 percent); transport (from -1.7 to -0.3 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 7.8 to 7.9 percent). However, this was partly offset by inflation easing with respect to: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 2.9 to 2.8 percent); clothing and footwear (from 5.2 to 4.9 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (from 4.4 to 3.3 percent); furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (from 2.9 to 2.8 percent); recreation and culture (from 1.8 to 1.7 percent); and restaurants and hotels (from 3.3 to 3.1 percent). Inflation was unchanged for: communication (0.0 percent) and education (3.6 percent).

The trimmed mean measure of core inflation and inflation excluding administered prices remained unchanged from 2.5 and 3.7 percent, respectively.