The annual inflation rate in the country increased for the eighth consecutive month to 13.9% in January of 2022, from 12.6% in December of 2021.
This is according to the latest report of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
This inflation heralds a gloomier prospect for Ghana as fuel prices begin to climb and could worsen with the emerging military offensive between Russia and Ukraine. This is likely to squeeze out the supply of crude oil globally.
Ghana’s December 2021’s 12.6% inflation rate was the highest since December of 2016, exceeding the Bank of Ghana’s target band of 6% to 10% for a fifth straight month.
Price rates spiked for both non-food (14.1% vs 12.5% in December), in particular housing & utilities (28.7%) and transport (17.4%); and food products (13.7% vs 12.8%).
Month-on-month, consumer prices inched up 2.1 percent, which is the highest since April of 2020, after a 1.2 percent rise in the previous month.
“The national year-on-year inflation rate was 13.9% in January 2022, which is 1.3 percentage points higher than the 12.6% recorded in December 2021.
Month-on-month inflation between December 2021 and January 2022 was 2.1% . Two Divisions (Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, and Transport) recorded inflation rates above the national average of 13.9% with Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels (28.7% ) recording the highest inflation,” reported the Statistical Service.
The most important components of the CPI in Ghana are Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (43.6 percent of total weight); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Utilities (9.5 percent) and Clothing and Footwear (8.9 percent).
Transport account for 7.2 percent of the total index, Miscellaneous Goods and Services for 7 percent, Hotels, Cafés and Restaurants for 6 percent and Furnishing and Household Equipment for 4.6 percent. Education represents 3.8 percent of total weight, Recreation and Culture another 2.7 percent and Communication 2.6 percent.
Health accounts for the remaining 2.4 percent and Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics 1.6 percent.
This month’s food inflation (13.7%) is higher than both last month’s food inflation (12.8%) and the average of the previous 12 months (10.4%) according to the January 2022 figures.
“Food inflation’s contribution to total inflation decreased marginally from 45.2% in December 2021 to 44.2% in January 2022 (see Figure 6). Overall month-on-month food inflation was 2.0%, which is higher than the twelve-month national month-on-month rolling average of food inflation (1.1%).
Fourteen out of the fifteen food subclasses recorded positive month-on-month inflation (see figure 4) with Fruit and Vegetable juices recording a deflation (-0.4%).”
For Non-food year-on-year inflation, it said that on average it went up again in January 2022 compared to December 2021 (from 12.5% to 14.1%).