Ghana inflation rate for May rises to 27.6%

The Year-on-Year inflation rate rises again to 27.6 per cent in May, up from 23.6 per cent in April, the Ghana Statistical Service said on Wednesday.

The Month-on-month inflation between April 2022 and May 2022 stood at 4.1 per cent, representing a 1.0 percentage point decline from 5.1 per cent in April.

Food inflation had increased to 30.1 per cent from 26.6 per cent in April.

Non-food inflation, however, rose to 25.7 per cent compared to 21.3 per cent the previous month.

Professor Kwabena Annim, the Government Statistician, said that the margins between food and non-food inflation had decreased to 4.4 percentage points relative to 5.4 percentage points for March and 5.3 percentage points for April 2022.

“Food inflation for May 2022 relative to the rolling average for the period June 2022 to May 2022 has more than doubled while the margin between month-on-month food and non-food is 0.1 percentage point with food inflation recording 4.0 per cent and non-food 4.1 per cent,” he said.

Between April and May 2022, Food Inflation went up by 3.5 percentage points from 26.6 per cent to 30.1 per cent and Non-food Inflation increased by 4.4 percentage points from 21.3 per cent to 25.7 per cent, he said.

The GSS identified five sub-classes to record inflation rates higher than the overall food inflation of 30.1 per cent and this was distantly led by Oils and Fats with 52.0 per cent followed by Water with 42.4 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, three sub-classes recorded inflation rates higher than the overall inflation of 4.0 per cent. This was led by Oil and Fats with 6.5 per cent followed by Vegetables recording 5.4 per cent and Cereal Products with 5.3 per cent.

Inflation for locally produced items was 27.3 per cent while that of imported items was 28.2 per cent, indicating the sustained dominance of imported inflation over domestic inflation with a margin of 0.9 percentage points.

Transport 39.0 per cent, Household Equipment and Maintenance 33.8 per cent, Housing, Water, Gas and Electricity 32.3 per cent and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages 30.16 per cent had rates higher than the national average of 27.6 per cent.

Source: GNA