In April, headline inflation increased to 3.4 percent from 2.8 percent in March. According to the latest data from Statistics Botswana, inflation increased for: clothing and footwear (from 2 to 2.1 percent); transport (from 4 to 6.3 percent - largely because of an increase in the rate of price increase for transport services); communication (from 1.2 to 1.3 percent); restaurants and hotels (from 3.3 to 3.6 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 3.2 to 8.5 percent – driven mainly by an increase in the rate of price increase for insurance). However, this was partly offset by inflation easing with respect to: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 0.1 to -0.1 percent); alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 1.4 to 0.7 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (from 5.7 to 3.3 percent); furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (from 2.3 to 2.2 percent); health (from 1.4 to 1.3 percent); and recreation and culture (from 2.1 to 2 percent). Inflation remained unchanged for education (5.5 percent).

The trimmed mean measure of core inflation increased from 2.6 to 3.1 percent, while inflation excluding administered prices decreased from 2 to 1.9 percent.