The annual inflation rate in Botswana for the month of July experienced a considerable decline to 1.5%, according to Statistics Botswana on Tuesday.

This is down from June’s inflation rate of 4.6%.

The 3.1 percentage point fall was put down to the steady movement of indices, said the data from Statistics Botswana, the country’s data authority.

“The group indices were generally moving at a stable pace between June and July 2023, recording changes of less than 1.0%, except the transport group, which recorded a decrease of 3.0%,” according to Statistician-General Burton Mguni.

Whereas Botswana’s finance minister Peggy Serame said to parliament last week: “Inflation is expected to remain within the objective range in the next few months.”

Serame praised the country’s central bank for maintaining the policy rate at 2.65% since August last year in a bid to protect the economy and convey the forecast stable inflation outlook, and remain consistent with the fall in price pressures.

Throughout last year, Botswana endured a high inflationary environment, with inflation reaching a peak of 14.6% in August. Yet so far this year, headline inflation has been on a downward trajectory as a result of several factors, such as low commodity and fuel prices.

In addition, during the official launch of the budget campaign last week, the finance minister said that underspending the development budget is a concerning trend.

Serame said that the country’s ministries were still spending an extremely low amount of the majority of their budget.

She added that the recurrent budget was used the most as it was the operational budget that involved the daily operation of government business, All Africa reports. However, she said she was equally worried as to whether it was being used effectively.

“I am saying this because even with the recurrent budget, it has proved that its spending is only fast-tracked towards the end of the fiscal year,” she stated.