Ghana inflation rate for March falls slightly to 10.4%

The year on year inflation rate for March 2018 fell slightly to 10.4 per cent compared with the 10.6 per cent recorded in February 2018, the Ghana Statistical Service said on Wednesday.

Mr Baah Wadieh, the Acting Government Statistician, said the monthly change rate in March 2018 was 1.1 per cent compared with the 0.9 per cent recorded in February 2018.

According to Mr Wadieh, the fall was as a result of decreases in non-food items.

He explained that the year on year non-food inflation rate for March 2018 was 11.8 per cent compared with the rate of 12.2 per cent recorded in February 2018.

However, the year on year food inflation rate for March 2018 was 7.3 per cent compared with 7.2 per cent recorded in February 2018.

The year on year non-food inflation rate of 11.8 per cent was more than one and half times that of the food inflation rate 7.3 per cent.

He said the main ‘price drivers’ for the non-food inflation rate were transport, clothing and footwear, recreation and culture, miscellaneous goods and services and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance.

The ‘price drivers’ for the food inflation rate were coffee, tea and cocoa , fruits , meat and meat products , minerals water, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices , vegetables and food products.

The Acting Government Statistician said in March 2018, the year on year inflation rate for imported items of 11.8 per cent was 2.0 percentage points higher than that of locally produced items 9.8 per cent.

Five regions -Upper West, Brong Ahafo, Greater Accra, Ashanti and Western recorded inflation rate higher than the national average of 10.4 per cent.

Upper West Region recorded the highest year on year inflation rate of 11.9 per cent followed by the Brong Ahafo Region of 11.3 per cent while the Upper East Region recorded the lowest year on year inflation of 8.0 per cent in March 2018.

Source: GNA