Producer-Price Inflation Rose to 17.2% in August

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Ghana’s producer-price inflation rate increased for the second consecutive month to 17.2 percent in August, as mining and quarrying costs rose.

Inflation accelerated from a revised 13.9 percent in July, Grace Bediako, a statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service told reporters in the capital, Accra, today.

Mining and quarrying costs, which account for 14 percent of the overall index, rose 47 percent from 34 percent the month before, Bediako said. Ghana is Africa’s biggest gold producer after South Africa. Diamond, manganese, and bauxite are also mined in the West African nation.

Manufacturing costs, which make up 70 percent of the index, increased 16 percent in August compared with a revised 14 percent the month earlier, while utility costs were unchanged at 0.3 percent, Bediako said.