Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim
The year-on-year Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) for January 2023 has hit 53.6 per cent, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
This means that in the month of January 2023 the general price level was 53.6 per cent higher than January 2022.
“This is the first time in 19 months the continuous upwards increase in prices of goods and services has seen a reversal with a decline of 0.5 per cent”, government statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim said during a press briefing in Accra.
Month-on–month inflation between December 2022 and January 2023 was 1.7 per cent, he added.
Giving a breakdown of the contributors, the government statistician said food inflation was 61.0 per cent as against last month’s 59.7 per cent, while month-on-month food inflation was 2.8 per cent.
Non-food inflation also fell to 47.9 per cent from the previous month’s 49.9 per cent.
Month-on-month non-food inflation was 0.8 per cent.
Prof. Annim however said that the inflation for locally produced items was 50.0 per cent while inflation for imported items was 62.5 per cent.
From the regional perspective, the Greater Accra recorded the highest regional inflation rate of 66.7 per cent and Volta region recorded the lowest inflation rate of 35.6 per cent.
“We have put forward a couple of policy considerations to guide policy makers on how to look into the price changes over time,” he said.
Prof Annim explained that all the items in the component for calculating the rate of inflation recorded an increase.
By Hudda Bala Abdul Manan