Bank of Botswana maintains Monetary Policy Rate at 2.65 % while inflation drops from 12.4% in December 2022 to 9.3% in January 2023. However, it remained above the Bank’s medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent. The reduction in inflation is partly due to the impact of the downward adjustment of domestic fuel prices in December 2022 and January 2023. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) projects that during fluctuation, the inflation will trend downwards and fall within the objective range in the second quarter of the year 2024.
According to the January 2023 World Economic Outlook Update, global output is estimated to have expanded by 3.4 percent in 2022 and it is forecast to moderate to 2.9 percent in 2023 and rebound to 3.1 percent in 2024.
The MPC notes the growth-enhancing economic transformation reforms and supportive macroeconomic policies being implemented. Overall, the MPC projects that the economy will operate below full capacity in the short to medium-term and, therefore, not generating any demand-driven inflationary pressures.
The remaining MPC meetings for 2023 are scheduled as follows:
April 27-28, 2023
June 14-15, 2023
August 23-24, 2023
October 25-26, 2023
December 6-7, 2023