Coronavirus pushes March inflation to 10.6%

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has announced on Wednesday May 13 that the year-on-year inflation jumped from 7.8% in March 2020 to 10.6% in April 2020, an increase of 2.8%.

The GSS blamed the upward trend on the partial lockdown of the Greater Accra, Greater Kumasi, Kasoa and Tema areas due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This resulted in an increase in the price of some goods, mainly food items.

The increase in inflation might compel the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana to keep the interest policy rate at 14.5%.

According to the April 2020 data released today, Wednesday, 13 May 2020, month-on-month inflation between March 2020 and April 2020 was 3.2%.

In the month of April 2020 alone, the general price level was 10.6% higher than April 2019.

Food inflation was 14.4% while non-food inflation was 7.7%.

Vegetables (37%) and fruits and nuts (20.5%) recorded the highest rate of inflation above the food inflation rate of 14.4%.

According to the figures, inflation for locally produced items was 13.1%, while inflation for imported items was 4.9%.

For the regions, Greater Accra, which was the hardest hit in terms of the partial lockdown, recorded the highest inflation rate of 15.1%.

The Upper East Region registered a low inflation rate of 2.3%.