In July, headline inflation remained at 3.1 percent as recorded in June.  According to the latest data from Statistics Botswana, inflation decreased for: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from -0.6 to -1.1 percent); clothing and footwear (from 2.2 to 2 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (from 3.6 to 3.5 percent); and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (from 2.1 to 2 percent).  However, this was partly offset by inflation increasing with respect to: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 0.7 to 0.8 percent); transport (from 7.5 to 7.7 percent); recreation and culture (from 1.9 percent to 2 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 7.5 to 7.6 percent).  Inflation remained unchanged for: health (0.8 percent); communication (-8.2 percent); education (5.4 percent); and restaurants and hotels (3.6 percent).

 The trimmed mean measure of core inflation decreased from 3.2 to 3.1 percent, while inflation excluding administered prices also declined from 1.8 percent to 1.7 percent in July.