Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu
Inflation rate has risen to 5.0%, reversing the decline recorded in July and raising fresh concerns about persistent price pressures in the domestic economy.
The year-on-year inflation rate increased by 0.4 percentage points, from 4.6% in July to 5.0% in August 2026, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
Government Statistician, Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu, said the August figure, however, remains significantly lower than the 11.5% recorded in August 2025, representing a 6.5 percentage-point decline over the 12-month period.
According to him, the latest increase was driven largely by non-food items, which recorded inflation of 6.8%, up from 6.1% in July.
Food inflation, in contrast, eased marginally from 3.1% to 3.0%, the GSS report indicated.
The GSS said non-food items accounted for 70.9% of total inflation, compared with 29.1% for food, which highlights a shift in the sources of price pressures facing consumers.
Services
Services emerged as a major source of inflationary pressure, with prices rising by 8.6%, compared with 3.8% for goods.
The GSS described services as the “last hurdle” to further disinflation, pointing to persistent pressures in areas including transport, housing, education, restaurants and insurance.
Housing, water and energy recorded inflation of 11.6% and contributed the largest share of overall inflation at 29.4%.
Transport inflation also increased marginally from 7.5% in July to 7.6% in August, while education services eased slightly from 9.4% to 9.3%.
Domestic pressures
The GSS said the latest figures suggest that inflation is being driven predominantly by domestic rather than imported pressures.
Locally produced goods and services recorded inflation of 6.1%, compared with 2.2% for imported items.
According to the GSS, locally produced items accounted for 86.2% of total inflation, making domestic costs such as transport, energy and wages critical to the country’s inflation outlook.
Imported inflation, meanwhile, remained relatively low at 2.2%, which the GSS linked to exchange-rate stability helping to keep imported goods affordable.
Regional disparity
The national inflation rate also masks significant differences across the regions.
The Central Region recorded the highest inflation rate of 11.1%, rising sharply from 7.5% in July, and Ashanti Region followed with 8.7%, while North East recorded 8.5%.
Greater Accra’s inflation rate stood at 5.0%.
At the opposite end, Bono East recorded deflation of 3.3%, meaning prices in the region were lower than a year earlier.
The wide disparity means households are experiencing markedly different cost-of-living pressures depending on where they live.
Tomato prices
Individual commodities also recorded sharp price movements, despite the relatively moderate headline food inflation.
Fresh tomato prices surged by 158.3% year-on-year, while ginger prices increased by 128.3%. Shrimps rose by 67.1%, mangoes by 57.7%, fresh coconut by 38.0% and charcoal by 35.6%.
On the other hand, some commodities became significantly cheaper, with lime prices falling by 33.7% and maize by 31.3%.
Prices fall in August
Interestingly, the rise in annual inflation did not mean that prices increased during August itself.
The GSS reported negative month-on-month inflation of 1.0%, indicating that the cost of the CPI basket fell by 1% between July and August.
Food prices also fell by 2.5% over the same period, according to GSS
The development highlights the difference between annual inflation, which compares prices with the same period a year earlier, and month-on-month inflation, which captures changes between consecutive months.
BoG target
Despite the August increase, the 5.0% inflation rate remains below the lower bound of the Bank of Ghana’s 8% ±2 percentage-point medium-term target band.
The GSS said the decline in inflation over the past year creates room to support economic growth, although the elevated services inflation requires careful monitoring.
Overall, inflation has fallen by more than half over the past year, from 11.5% in August 2025 to 5.0% in August 2026.
The CPI index stood at 268.5 in August 2026, compared with 255.7 a year earlier.
By Ernest Kofi Adu