In February, headline inflation increased to 3.4 percent from 3.1 percent in January. According to the latest data from Statistics Botswana, inflation increased for: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 3.8 to 4.3 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (from 3.5 to 3.8 percent); furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (from 3.1 to 3.4 percent); transport (from -0.9 to 0.7 percent); education (from 4.1 to 4.2 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 7.6 to 8.3 percent). However, this was partly offset by inflation easing with respect to: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 4.4 to 4.2 percent); clothing and footwear (from 4.5 to 4.1 percent); and recreation and culture (from 1.8 to 1.6 percent). Inflation remained unchanged for: health (3.3 percent); communication (0.1 percent); and restaurants and hotels (3.6 percent).

The trimmed mean measure of core inflation increased from 2.7 to 2.9 percent and inflation excluding administered prices remained unchanged at 3.9 percent.