Producer price index increases

Ghana’s year-on-year Producer Price Index increased by 15.3 per cent from December 2012 to December 2013, representing an increase of 2.3 percentage points in producer inflation relative to the rate of 13.0 per cent recorded in November 2013.

Dr Philomena Nyarko, the Government Statistician, told journalists at a news conference in Accra on Wednesday that the month-on-month change in producer prices between November 2013 and December 2013 was 1.6 percent.


She said in December 2013, the producer price inflation in the mining and quarrying sub-sector increased by 1.7 percentage points over the November 2013 rate of -14.9 per cent, to record -13.2 per cent.


Manufacturing, which constitutes more than two-third of total industry, increased by 2.9 percentage points to record 17.4 per cent, adding that the rate for the utility sub-sector rose slightly by 0.2 percentage points relative to 40.8 per cent for November 2013, to record 41.0 per cent in December 2013.


Dr Nyarko said during the 12-month period (December 2012 to December 2013), the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 17.1 per cent for all industry was recorded in December 2012.


The producer price inflation fluctuated from December 2012 until March 2013 when it declined continuously over a five-month period to record the lowest rate of 4.7 per cent in August 2013, declaring that in September 2013, however, the rate inched up to record 5.8 per cent.

The rate rose continuously to record 11.6 per cent in October 2013, 13.0 per cent in November 2013 and 15.3 per cent in December 2013.


Dr Nyarko said during the month of December 2013, five out of the 16 major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 17.4 per cent.


Manufacturing of machinery and equipment recorded the highest inflation rate of 76.0 per cent whilst producer prices in the manufacture of electrical machinery rate of -5.5 per cent over the one year period.


She said the inflation rate in the petroleum sub-sector dropped from 16.4 per cent in December 2012 to -1.3 per cent in January 2013 but rose in March 2013.


The inflation rate increased consistently to record 33.6 per cent in September 2013 as a result of increases in the prices of petroleum products but decreased in October 2013 to record a rate of 30.0 per cent.

Following this, the rate increased consistently to record 35.7 per cent in December 2013.


Dr Nyarko said the utility sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year producer price inflation rate of 41.0 per cent followed by the manufacturing sub-sector with 17.4 per cent, with the Mining and Quarrying sub-sector recording the lowest rate of -0.9 per cent.


She said the monthly changes in the producer price index indicated that manufacturing recorded a monthly inflation rate of 2.5 per cent, while utility recorded 0.1 per cent.