Consumer inflation drops further to 10.4 percent in September

The consumer inflation for September 2020 recorded 10.4 percent, representing a decline of 0.1 percentage points from previous month figure of 10.5 percent, data from the Ghana Statistical Service has shown.

At the release of the latest data, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim indicated that the decline was seen across the different regions of the country and this was largely driven by fall in food inflation.

“National year-on-year inflation for September 2020 was 10.4 percent. The month-on-month inflation rate of negative 0.2 percent indicates that on average prices actually decreased slightly for the second consecutive month. This trend is visible across the different regions and driven by negative Food inflation,” Prof. Annim said.

The combined 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.

The Food and Non-alcoholic beverages inflation rate recorded a year-on-year inflation rate for September is 11.2 percent, 0.2 percent lower than 11.4 percent recorded for August 2020.

Within Food subgroups, Vegetables recorded inflation rate of 18.9 percent which is higher than the group’s average rate of 13.7 percent.

“Food contributed 47.6 percent to the total inflation and thus is still the predominant driver of year-on-year inflation,” the Government Statistician revealed.

The Non-Food group recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 9.8 percent in September 2020. The Non-Food inflation for September 2020 was 0.1 percentage point lower than the 9.9 percent recorded for August 2020.

Regional Inflation

At the regional level, the year-on-year inflation rate ranged from 1.3 percent in the Upper West to 14.3 percent in the Greater Accra Region.

Ashanti and Western Region and Eastern recorded 11.1 percent, 10.9 percent and 11.9 percent inflation rates, respectively, above the national average of 10.4 percent.

The Upper West had the lowest year-on-year inflation rate.