Business News of 2026-11-05
Inflation rises to 5.5% in October
Ghana’s inflation rate increased to 5.5% in October 2026, up from 5.2% in September, driven mainly by higher transport and service costs.
The latest figures mean that average prices of goods and services were 5.5% higher in October than in the same month last year. However, prices declined slightly by 0.1% compared with September.
Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu said non-food items accounted for about 76% of the annual inflation rate, while food contributed approximately 24%.
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Transport prices increased by 14.1% compared with October last year. They also rose by 8% between September and October.
Services inflation climbed to 11.5% in October from 8.3% in September, while goods inflation stood at 3.8%.
Food inflation, however, slowed to 2.8% from 4% in September. This means food prices continued to be higher than a year ago, but at a slower rate of increase. On a month-on-month basis, average food prices declined by 2%.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels recorded an annual price increase of 10.5%. Together with food and transport, these categories accounted for about 70% of overall inflation.
Prices of locally produced items increased by 6.9%, compared with 2.4% for imported goods.
A regional breakdown showed that the Ashanti Region recorded the highest inflation rate at 9.7%, followed by the Eastern Region at 7.8%. The Northern Region recorded the lowest rate at negative 0.5%, indicating that average prices were lower than they were a year earlier.
Among individual products, fresh tomatoes recorded the highest price increase of 119.3% compared with October last year. Shrimp prices increased by 88.8%, while ginger rose by 88.2%.
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On the other hand, guinea corn prices declined by 28%, maize by 27.2%, foreign apples by 24.5% and lime by 23.7%.
Dr Iddrisu said the inflation figures would help households plan their spending, businesses manage operating costs and policymakers identify areas requiring support.
DR/MA
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