Annual producer price index rises to 27.69%

The annual Producer Price Index (PPI) rose to 27.69 percent in December 2009, representing 7.33 percentage points higher than that of November 2009, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has announced.

The figure for November 2009 was 20.36 percent.

Mr. Magnus Ebo Duncan, Head of Economics Statistics at the GSS who announced the figures at a news conference in Accra explained the rise was due to an increase in the demand for products minerals, especially gold, on the world market.

On specific industry basis, the mining and quarrying sector which controls 13.97 percent share of all industry, recorded the highest inflation rate of 63.99 percent as against the 27.44 percent by the manufacturing sub-sector which controls 69.75 percent of all industry share. The utilities sector recorded the least figure closing at 0.88 percent.

Mr. Duncan said the relatively stable nature of the utilities sector accounted for its recording of the least inflation rate.

“In spite of the higher annual change rates in the last quarter of 2009, the average inflation rate for the year of 15.44 percent was about half the figure in 2008, which stood at 32.36 percent,” he explained.

He explained there was an appreciable upsurge in the rate for publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded works in the media group as against declines in manufacture of wood, cork and basic metals.

The yearly All-industry year-on-year inflation was relatively stable for the first five months of 2009, averaging 11.87 percent.

There was however an upsurge in the rate in June 2009 but it declined in August 2009 just for the inflation rate to rise to an end-year figure of 27.69 percent, the highest in 2009.