Inflation declines to 12.8%

• Posted on April 13, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The year-on-year inflation rate for February 2017 was 13.2 percent compared to 13.2 percent recorded in February 2017.

The March 2017 rate of 12.8 percent is the lowest since December 2013.

The monthly change rate for March 2017 was 1.3 percent as compared to 0.6 percent recorded in February 2017.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change over time in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption, with reference to the price level in 2012, the base year, which has an index of 100.

The food inflation rate for March 2017 was 7.3 percent compared to 7.1 percent recorded in February 2017.

The non-food inflation rate for March 2017 was 15.6 percent compared to 16.4 percent recorded in February 2017.

The inflation rate for imported items was 15.5 percent in March 2017 compared to 15.0 percent recorded in February 2017.

The inflation rate for locally produced items was 11.7 percent in March 2017 compared to 12.5 percent recorded in February 2017.

Baah Wadieh, Acting Government Statistician, who was addressing the press in Accra yesterday, said the main “price drivers” for the non-food inflation rate were Recreation and culture (23.7%), Furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance (23.5%), Clothing and footwear (18.2%), Education (17.3%), Miscellaneous goods and services (16.7%) and Health (15.8%).

The “price drivers” for the food inflation rate were fish and sea food (14.7%) and meat and meat products (10.9%), he said.

Mr. Wadieh said four regions (Greater Accra, Upper West, Brong Ahafo and Ashanti) recorded inflation rates higher than the national average and Northern Region recorded the same inflation rate as the national average of 12.8 percent.

The Greater Accra and Upper West Regions recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 13.7 percent followed by the Brong Ahafo Region with 13.4 percent while the Volta Region recorded the lowest 10.7 percent, he said.

By Cephas Larbi