Annual inflation continued its upward trajectory for the month of July, recording a 0.7 percent increase to end the month at 8.9 percent.
Inflation has in recent months maintained its upward trend which observers say is due to the recent hikes in taxes and other levies in April.
Data from Statistics Botswana (SB) indicates that the main contributors to the July 2021 annual inflation rate were, transport with 4.6 percent housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels with 1.5 percent, food and non-alcoholic beverages at 0.9 percent, and miscellaneous goods and services at 0.6 percent.
The latest inflation figures do not include that of alcoholic beverages due to the suspension of their sales which has been in place since June.
According to SB, the inflation rates for regions between June and July showed that the rural villages’ rate went up by 0.9 of a percentage point, from 7.9 to 8.8 percent.
The urban villages’ inflation rate on the other hand was at 9.0 percent in July, showing an increase of 0.7 of a percentage point on the June rate of 8.3 percent.
The cities and towns inflation rate meanwhile, rose by 0.6 of a percentage point, from 8.2 percent to 8.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) is reported to have escalated by 0.9 percent in July, reaching 111.7 whereas the previous month it stood at 110.8.
The rural villages’ index recorded a growth of 1.1 percent, from 109.6 in June to 110.8 in July.
The cities and towns index increased by 0.7 percent, from 111.0 to 111.7, whereas the urban villages index moved from 111.3 in June to 112.1 in July, an increase of 0.7 percent.
Group indices are said to have been generally moving at a stable pace between June and July this year, recording changes of less than 1 percent, except the transport group index which recorded an increase of 3 percent.
The rise in the transport group index is attributed to an increase in the constituent section index of Operation of Personal Transport at 4.8 percent and purchase of Vehicles at 2.2 percent.
The increase in the Operation of Personal Transport section index was attributed to the rise in retail pump prices for petrol (95) and diesel (50ppm) by P0.63 and P0.53 per litre respectively, which effected on the 10th of July 2021.