Business News of 2026-09-02
Ghana's inflation climbs to 5.0% as transport, housing costs rise
Ghana’s inflation rate has increased for the second consecutive month, rising to 5.0% in August 2026 from 4.6% in July, as higher costs of transport, housing and other services put fresh pressure on household spending.
The latest figures from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) show that inflation increased by 0.4 percentage points in August.
Despite the increase, the inflation rate remains below the 5.5% recorded in August 2025.
The latest rise was largely driven by non-food items, which continue to account for a significant share of household expenditure.
Non-food inflation increased to 6.8% in August from 6.7% in July and accounted for 70.9% of total inflation during the month.
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Food inflation, on the other hand, eased slightly to 3.0% from 3.1% in July.
The figures show that rising costs of rent, transport, electricity, education and other services are becoming key drivers of inflation.
Transport inflation stood at 10.5%, while housing, water and energy recorded inflation of about 10.2%. Education services recorded inflation of 6.6%, while clothing and footwear stood at about 8.0%.
Services inflation also increased to 8.6% in August from 8.5% in July, more than twice the 3.8% inflation recorded for goods.
The figures further show that Ghana’s current inflation pressures are mainly coming from the domestic economy.
Inflation for locally produced items increased to 6.1% from 5.9%, while inflation for imported items remained significantly lower at 2.2%.
Locally produced goods and services accounted for 86.2% of total inflation, pointing to domestic costs as the main source of current price pressures.
There were also wide differences in inflation rates across the regions.
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The Central Region recorded the highest inflation rate at 11.1%, more than twice the national rate. Ashanti followed with 8.7%, while Greater Accra recorded 5.0%.
Bono East recorded the lowest inflation rate at 3.3%, followed by Volta at 3.6% and Upper East at 3.7%.
Although annual inflation increased, the GSS figures show that prices declined by 1.0% between July and August.
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