Ghana records lowest inflation at 8.39% in 19 years

The annual inflation rate dropped by 0.20 percentage points to close at 8.39 per cent in July 2011, down from 8.59 per cent recorded in June 2011, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said on Wednesday.

The July rate of 8.39 per cent is the lowest inflation rate the country has recorded since June 1992, whose figure stood at 8.37 per cent.

Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, who announced the figures at a press conference in Accra, attributed the downward pressure on inflation to the food and non-alcoholic beverages group, which had been recording single digit inflation and declining since January 2010.

Inflation for the food group, which has a weight of 44.91 per cent, dropped to 3.25 per cent in July as against the 3.93 per cent recorded in the previous month.

The non-food average group, which has a weight of 55.09 per cent, recorded an inflation rate of 11.76 in July compared to 12.15 per cent in June.

“The non-food inflation is almost four times higher than the inflation in the food group,” Dr Bediako said.

Inflation rates in the regions ranged from a low of 4.38 per cent in the Volta Region to 11.57 per cent in the Greater Accra Region.

The Greater Accra, Western and Central regions recorded inflation rates above the national rate of 8.39 per cent.

Dr Bediako said the increase of the base pay for public sector workers, which would take effect from next month, would not affect the country’s inflation trend.

She said there was the likelihood that inflation would remain in the single digit for the next few months unless there was a dramatic change in the current trends.

Source: GNA