Local inflation rose from 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent in December while the one for South Africa rose to a one-year high of 5.2 percent from 4.8 percent in November on the back of a weaker Rand and food price pressures.

Over 80 percent of Botswana’s fresh produce is imported from South Africa while local millers import 95 percent of their maize requirements from the southern neighbours.

According to The Independent, the secretary of the South Africa’s Early Morning Market Traders Association, Romila Chetty said the prices of fresh produce had escalated and, in some cases, almost doubled.

Available: http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=57326&dir=2016/january/28