Ghana inflation falls to 23.1% in May, lowest in 26 months

The year-on-year inflation rate fell for the second consecutive month to 23.1 per cent in May from 25.0 recorded in April 2024, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said on Wednesday, June 12.

The rate is the lowest the country has recorded in the last 26 months, with food inflation contributing to the overall decline.

Food inflation was lower at 22.6 per cent from a previous 26.8 per cent in April 2024.

“We’ve seen for the second consecutive time, a drop in the year-on-year inflation by 1.9 percentage point to the current year-on-year inflation for May 2024, standing at 23.1 per cent,” Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, Government Statistician, said.

Speaking at the release of the Consumer Price Index for May 2024 in Accra, he explained that the prices of goods and services between the month of May 2023, a year into the May 2024 went up by 23.1 per cent.

The CPI measures the changes in the price of fixed basket of goods and services purchased by households, with the inherent assumption that once any of the prices changes on a month-by-month basis, the total price of the basket would also change.

“This indicates a slowdown of 1.9 percentage point relative to the year-on-year inflation that was recorded in the month of April 2024,” the Government Statistician explained.

“On a year-on-year basis, the 23.1 per cent that’s been recorded for the month of May 2024 is the lowest rate of inflation that’s been recorded for the last 26 months,” he said.

He noted that between March and May 2024, there has been a decline from 25.8 per cent in March to 25.0 per cent in April before a further decline to 23.1 per cent in May 2023.

Providing a disaggregation, Prof Annim stated that there was a one percentage point difference between food and non-food inflation, with food inflation recording a rate of 22.6 per cent, while non-food inflation was 23.6 per cent.

“This is the second consecutive time that we’ve seen food inflation drop in food inflation as March food stood at 29.6 per cent, declining to 26.8 per cent, and for the second time in a roll, further declined by 4.2 percentage point to 22.6 per cent in the month of May 2024,” he said.

He noted that the 22.6 per cent that’s been recorded for the month of May 2024, is the lowest food inflation in the last 13 months, with the reverse observed for non-food inflation, which saw a third consecutive increase.

While the inflation rate for locally produced items was 24.7 per cent, that of imported items stood at 19.6 per cent for the month of May 2024. 

The rate of inflation is derived from the CPI, and uses three key variables are used both in the computation of CPI and the rate of inflation – prices, quantities, and weights of expenditure in the basket.

The data on prices are collected on a monthly basis from all the 16 administrative regions of the country in 57 markets from about 8,337 outlets for approximately 47,800.

Source: GNA

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