Producer inflation slows to 19.0%

The year-on-year inflation from the producer’s perspective for all industry was 19.0% in May 2015 compared to the 19.5 percent rate recorded in April 2015, says Ghana Statistical Service.

 This rate represents a 0.5 percentage point lower than the previous figure the mining and quarrying sub-sector had, recording the highest year-on-year producer price inflation rate of 25.4 percent, followed by the utilities sub-sector with 20.6 percent. 

The manufacturing sub-sector recorded the lowest year-on-year inflation rate of 16.8 percent

Dr. Philomena Nyarko, the Government Statistician speaking at a media interaction in Accra, announced that monthly change rate for May 2015 was 0.8% with mining and quarrying -- recording the highest inflation rate of 2.0 percent, followed by the manufacturing sub-sector with 0.8 percent.  The utilities sub-sector recorded the lowest rate of 0.1 percent. 

In May 2015, the producer price inflation in the mining and quarrying sub-sector decreased by 1.7 percentage points from the April 2015 rate of 27.1 percent to record 25.4 percent in May 2015.

Manufacturing -- which constitutes more than two-thirds of total industry -- decreased by 0.4 percentage points to record a 16.8 percent inflation rate. The Utilities sub-sector recorded an inflation rate of 200000.6 percent in May indicating a marginal decrease of 0.1 percentage point over the April 2015 rate of 20.7 percent.

She explained that from May 2014 producer price inflation began an upward trend, and increased consistently over four months to record 48.6 percent in August 2014. 

However, the rate consistently declined to record 19.0 percent in March 2015. It inched up to record 19.5 percent in April 2015 and then declined to 19.0 percent in May 2015.

 The Manufacturing sub-sector, she explained, during the month of May 2015 saw 10 out of the 16 major groups in the Industry sector recording inflation rates higher than the sector average of 16 percent. 

Manufacture of paper and paper products recorded the highest inflation rate of 55.6%, while the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products recorded the lowest producer price inflation rate.

Again, in the petroleum sector the inflation rate stood at 48.2 percent in May 2014. Thereafter, the rate fluctuated until November 2014 when it recorded 61.1 percent. 

Since then, the rate has steadily declined to record -8.7 percent in March 2015 and subsequently -9.6 percent in May as a result of base drift effect and the decrease in ex-refinery prices of petroleum products.