Producer price inflation rate for March 2022 hits 29.3%

• Posted on April 21, 2022April 21, 2022
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The GSS says two out of the 16 major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 36.0%

The year-on-year producer price inflation for March 2022 has increased to 29.3% from the 21.4% recorded in February 2022, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has said.

This rate represents a 7.9 percentage point increase in producer inflation.

The month-on-month change in the producer price index between February 2022 and March 2022 was 6.8%.

PPI measures the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers for the production of their goods and services.

According to the GSS, the manufacturing sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year produce price inflation, followed by the mining and quarrying sector.

Manufacturing sector 

In March 2022, two out of the sixteen major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 36.0%.

Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel recorded the highest inflation rate of 67.4%, while the publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media recorded the least inflation rate of 2.6%.

Petroleum price index 

The GSS in a statement said, “the producer inflation rate in the petroleum subsector was 31.0% in March 2021. The rate decreased to 28.0% in April 2021 and subsequently fluctuates to 25.3% in August 2021.

“Thereafter, it increased continuously to 58.4% in November 2021 but dropped to 35.0% in January 2022. In February 2022 the rate increased to 44.3% and inched up to 67.4% in March 2022.”

Mining and Quarrying

The producer price inflation in the mining and quarrying sub-sector increased by 19.8 percentage points over the February 2022 rate of 13.8% to 33.6% in March 2022.

The producer inflation for the manufacturing subsector, which constitutes more than two-thirds of the total industry, increased by 7.2 percentage points to 36.0%. The utility sub-sector recorded a 1.1% inflation rate for March 2022.

Trends

According to a GSS analysis, in March 2021, the producer price inflation rate for all industries was 13.0%. The rate decreased to a record 10.9% in April 2020 but increased to 11.8% in May 2021.

The rate decreased continuously to a record 8.1% in August 2021. Subsequently, the rate resumes an upward trend to increase continuously to a record 29.3% in March 2022.

-Asaase