Producer Price Inflation falls to 11.8 per cent in February

The Producer Price Inflation rate for February 2020 was 11.8 per cent, representing a 2.7 percentage point decrease relative to the rate recorded in January 2020 of 14.5 per cent.

The month-on-month change in producer price index between January 2020 and February 2020 was negative 0.3 per cent.

Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, who announced the rate via a recorded message instead of a press conference in line with the directive on public gathering, said the producer price inflation in the Mining and Quarrying sub-sector decreased by 6.1 percentage points over the January 2020 rate of 32.2 per cent to record 26.1 per cent in February 2020.

The producer inflation for Manufacturing which constitutes more than two-thirds of the total industry decreased by 2.5 percentage points to record 8.7 per cent.

The utility sub-sector recorded an inflation rate of 12.3 per cent for February 2020 indicating a decrease of 0.3 percentage point over the January 2020 rate of 12.6 per cent.

In February 2019, the producer price inflation rate for all industry was 5.4 per cent. In April 2019, the rate increased to 7.1 per cent but declined to 6.7 per cent in May 2019. Since then, the rate increased consistently to record 10.2 per cent in August 2019 but declined to 8.9 per cent in October 2019.

The rate then increased again continuously to record 14.5 per cent in January 2020 but declined to record 11.8 per cent in February 2020.

Manufacturing Sector during February 2020, five out of the sixteen major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 8.7 per cent.

Manufacture of machinery and equipment recorded the highest inflation rate of 24.7 per cent, while the Manufacture of textiles recorded the least inflation rate of 0.2 per cent.

The producer inflation rate in the petroleum subsector was 8.9 per cent in February 2019.

In April 2019, the rate increased consistently to record 17.2 per cent but declined to 1.2 per cent in June 2019.

However, it increased to 3.1 per cent in August 2019 but declined again to a negative 5.7 per cent in October 2019.

Thereafter the rate increased consistently to record 20.6 per cent in January 2020 but declined to record 14.4 per cent in February 2020.

Source: GNA