Inflation falls to 10.6 pct in July

Ghana's annual producer price inflation fell sharply to 10.6 percent in July from 23.1 percent the previous month, driven mainly by a strong rally in the local currency, the national statistics office said on Wednesday.

Still, the inflation level is high compared with the regional average, indicating the scale of economic challenges facing the West African country. Ghana is under a three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme designed to restore fiscal stability.

"We had declines in all the sub-sectors but the key driver was the strong appreciation of the cedi last month," government statistician Philomena Nyarko told reporters in Accra.

The cedi rallied strongly last month after slumping 25 percent in the first half of the year but has since lost all the gains. Lower gold prices in July also contributed to the fall in the index, Nyarko said.

Producer inflation for mining and quarrying fell by a sharp 28.5 percentage points, compared to the previous month, to 1.5 percent while the utilities sub-sector eased by 13.5 percentage points to 7.3 percent, she added.

Manufacturing, which comprises petroleum refining, fell 8.4 percentage points to 13.5 percent.