Inflation drops to 12.6%

• Posted on June 15, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Prices of goods and Services for the month of May was fairly stable as inflation saw a slight decline.

May inflation fell to 12.6 percent from the 13.0 percent in April. This figure is the lowest since December 2013.

Greater Accra recorded the highest inflation while Upper East recorded the lowest.

Acting Government Statistician, Baah Wadie attributed the development to the marginal reduction in fuel prices over the period.

The year-on-year non-food inflation rate for May 2017 was 15.8% compared with the 16.3% recorded in April 2017.

The year-on-year food inflation rate for May 2017 was 6.3%, compared with 6.7%recorded in April 2017

The year-on-year non-food inflation rate (15.8%) is more than two times that of the food inflation rate (6.3%).

In May 2017, the year-on-year inflation rate for imported items (14.5%) was 2.7 percentage points higher than that of locally produced items (11.8%).

The main “price drivers” for the non-food inflation rate were Transport (23.6%), Recreation and culture (21.4%), Furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance (20.7%), Clothing and footwear (16.5%) and Miscellaneous goods and services (16.4%).

The “price drivers” for the food inflation rate were Fish and sea food (13.1%) and Meat and meat products (9.5%).

Five regions (Greater Accra, Upper West, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Western) recorded inflation rates higher than the national average of 12.6%.

The Greater Accra region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 13.6%, followed by the Upper West region with 13.5% while the Upper East region recorded the lowest (9.1%).

-Starrfmonline