Government statistician speaks on fluctuating food inflation 

The sharp increase in the inflation rate in September this year - 21.5% - has become a cause for concern, Government Statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim has said.

The hike was attributed to food inflation, which witnessed an increase of three percentage points from 19.1% to 22.1%.

Speaking on the high inflation rate, Professor Kobina Annim said he prays that seasonalities do not influence the production of agricultural products.

“It is a cause for concern. From a seasonality point of view, we see the influence of bumper harvests in the months of August and September, but we need to keep in mind that it peaked in August and slowed in September onwards.

“Its ability to contain the market in September depends on our ability to have stored enough and the extent to which we got a significant harvest during the rainy season,” he stated.

He stressed that, “We hope that going forward, we can address these seasonalities as it is one of the topical issues in the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Phase II document to ensure that, as a country, seasonalities do not influence the production of our agricultural products.”

Non-food inflation, on the other hand, remained relatively stable.

It dropped from 21.5% in August to 20.9% in September.

Inflation for locally produced items hit 23.4%, while imported items were pegged at 17%.

SA/OGB

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