Producer Price Inflation falls to 50.8%

The Producer Price Inflation (PPI) rate decreased marginally to 50.8 percent in February from 52.6 percent in March 2023.

This represents a 1.7 percentage point decrease in PPI relative to the 52.6 percent recorded in January.

Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel K. Annim, said the marginal drop in the February PPI rate, which was provisional, was influenced by the drop in PPI for industry, which carries 85.0 percent weigh of the PPI index.

He said the industry recorded a PPI rate of 57.9 percent in February from 58.8 percent in January.

“The producer price inflation in the industry less construction sector decreased to 57.9 percent in February from 58.8 percent in January 2023,” he said.

Mining and quarrying (61.2 percent), electricity and gas 57.4 percent and manufacturing (55.7 percent) recorded rates above the national average of 50.8 percent.

Prof. Annim said the rate in the construction sector increased to 21.1 per cent in February 2023 from 20.4 per cent in January 2023.

He said the PPI inflation in the construction of buildings sub-sector increased by 3.8 percentage points over the January rate of 45.9 per cent to 49.7 per cent in February 2023.

“The rate for the civil engineering sub-sector decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 11.1 percent in February 2023. The specialised construction activities sub-sector recorded a 6.0 percent inflation rate for February 2023, compared with 5.5 percent in January,” Prof. Annim, stated.

He said under the services sector, the rate increased from 10.6 per cent in January 2023 to 13.4 per cent in February 2023.

The Government Statistician explained that information and communication activity recorded the lowest rate of 4.5 per cent in February in 2023.

Prof. Annim said water supply, sewerage, waste management (32.5 per cent) and construction (21.1 per cent) recorded PPI rate below the national average of 50.8 per cent.

He said transportation and storage (67.6 per cent), accommodation and food service activities (66.5 per cent) drove the PPI rate for the services sector.