Inflation nears 5-yr high

Consumer inflation kept an upward trend in September, surging to a near five-year high of 16.5 percent from the 15.9 percent recorded in August, the Ghana Statistical Service said this week.

This makes it the 13th straight month that inflation has increased since August 2013, when the figure reached 11.5 percent.

The latest figure, which is 0.6 percentage points higher than the previous month’s inflation, pushes price growth further away from the revised end-of-year official target of 11-15 percent set in the mid-year supplementary budget presented to parliament in July.

The food inflation rate for September was 5.8 percent, 0.7 percentage points higher than the 5.1 percent recorded in August. Non-food inflation was 24.1 percent, about four times as high as the food inflation rate.

The main price drivers for non-food inflation were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which together rose at an annual rate of 63.5 percent; and transport, which jumped by 27.1 percent.

Inflation for imported items during September was 23.4 percent, about one and a half times higher than the inflation rate of 13.9 percent for locally produced items.

Food inflation is expected to ease during the August to October harvest season, and this could influence the index in the coming months.

The Central Region recorded the highest regional inflation rate of 18.5 percent, while the Upper West Region recorded the lowest inflation rate of 10.9 percent.

Seven regions (Central, Upper East, Northern, Eastern, Greater Accra, Ashanti and Western) recorded inflation rates above the national average of 16.5 percent.

Government is hoping to reduce inflation to within its target band by the end of the year as part of a broader package of reforms to restore fiscal stability, as it commences talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a possible bail-out.