In March, headline inflation increased to 3.5 percent from 3.4 percent in February. According to the latest data from Statistics Botswana, inflation increased for: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 4.2 to 4.4 percent); alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 4.3 to 4.9 percent); furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (from 3.4 to 3.6 percent); health (from 3.3 to 3.4 percent); transport (from 0.7 to 1.6 percent); recreation and culture (from 1.6 to 1.7 percent); restaurants and hotels (from 3.6 to 3.7 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 8.3 to 8.4 percent). However, this was partly offset by inflation easing with respect to: clothing and footwear (from 4.1 to 3.8 percent); and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (from 3.8 to 2.8 percent). Inflation remained unchanged for: communication (0.1 percent); and education (4.2 percent).


The trimmed mean measure of core inflation increased from 2.9 to 3.1 percent and inflation excluding administered prices remained unchanged at 3.9 percent.