GABORONE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's annual inflation rate for January rose to 10.6 percent, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous months' 8.7 percent, according to Statistics Botswana, the country's data authority.
The main contributors to the January 2022 rate were "transport, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, food and non-alcoholic beverages and miscellaneous goods and services," Statistician General Burton Mguni said Tuesday.
He said that all the group indices registered positive growth between December 2021 and January 2022, with significant increases realized on the transport and education group indices, at 8.1 and 1.1 percent respectively.
Last week, Minister of Finance and Economic Development Peggy Serame said Botswana's economic recovery has been accompanied by rising inflation.
She noted that the 8.7 percent inflation rate in December 2021 was the highest in a decade, saying the surge was driven by higher global fuel prices and administered prices.
"Global economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession in 2020 has caused demand for many goods and services to rise sharply in 2021, pushing up commodity prices and freight costs. As a result, most countries are experiencing higher inflation," Serame said.
She said the jump in inflation is expected to be short-term and the rate should normalize during 2022.
"Despite the increase in annual inflation, the Bank of Botswana maintained the bank rate at 3.75 percent, reaffirming a monetary policy stance that supports economic recovery," said Serame.
"The Bank forecasts that domestic inflation will fall throughout 2022 and return to the 3-6 percent objective range in the medium term," she noted. ■