Botswana’s annual inflation rate for December 2013 stood at 4.1 percent, same as in the previous month.
The country’s data authority Statistics Botswana (SB) on Wednesday said the annual inflation for December 2013 was lower than the 7.4 percent recorded during the same month in 2012.
“The downward movement of annual inflation rate between December 2012 and December 2013 was attributed to the stable prices of commodities, especially the main components of transport, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics and food and non-alcoholic beverages, which declined by 9.0, 5.4 and 3.4 percentage points respectively,” said senior statistician Phaladi Labobedi.
SB further said the group indices were stable between November and December, recording changes of less than 1.0 percent except for restaurants and hotels group index which increased by 1.2 percent.
Botswana’s national year-on-year inflation rate started falling to reach central bank’s medium term target of 3 – 6 percent last June, dropping to 5.8 percent from 6.1 percent in May and has continuously plummeted.
Bank of Botswana’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) remains optimistic that the medium-term outlook for inflation is positive, with inflation forecast to remain within the 3 – 6 percent objective range.
Meanwhile, the December national consumer price index registered an increase of 0.3 percent, advancing from 171.2 in November to 171.7 in December.
