In August, headline inflation remained at 3.4 percent, unchanged from July. According to the latest data from Statistics Botswana, inflation increased for: health (from 2.0 to 2.1 percent); and transport (from 1.4 to 1.6 percent). However, this was offset by inflation easing with respect to: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 4.3 to 3.8 percent - due to the slowdown in oils & fats and fruit): clothing and footwear (from 3.0 to 2.9 percent); furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (from 3.5 to 3.4 percent); recreation and culture (from 2.6 to 2.5 percent); and restaurants and hotels (from 4.0 to 3.9 percent). Inflation was unchanged for:  alcoholic beverages and tobacco (4.9 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (6.3 percent); communication (0.3 percent); education (4.2 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (2.7 percent).

The trimmed mean measure of core inflation and inflation excluding administered prices remained unchanged at 2.9 and 3.3 percent, respectively.