Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu
Ghana’s year-on-year headline inflation rose slightly to 5.2% in September 2026, up from 5.0% recorded in August 2026, according to official data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
Presenting the report yesterday, Government Statistician, Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu, highlighted that despite the 0.2 percentage point uptick over the month, current inflation remains significantly lower than the 9.4% recorded in September 2025, reflecting a 4.2 percentage point overall reduction over the past twelve months.
According to him, on a month-on-month basis, prices increased by 1.1% between August and September 2026, driven by a 1.5% monthly rise in food prices. The national Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 271.5 for the month.
A detailed breakdown of the drivers, he said, shows that inflation continues to be driven primarily by non-food items and domestic services. Non-food inflation stood at 6.2% year-on-year, contributing 63.3% to total inflation, whereas food inflation recorded 4.0%, accounting for the remaining 36.7%.
Services recorded an 8.3% inflation rate, rising nearly twice as fast as goods at 4.2% with housing, water, and energy contributing heavily to total inflation.
Furthermore, he stated that, inflation remains largely home-grown, as locally produced items registered a 6.4% rate and accounted for 85.7% of overall inflation, compared to imported items which grew at a modest 2.4% due to a relatively stable cedi.
Regional Trend
Highlighting on the significant regional disparities and individual commodity price swings, he said the Ashanti Region recorded the highest annual inflation rate in the country at 9.8%, while the Western Region experienced negative inflation at -0.5%, meaning average prices there actually fell compared to last year.
He noted that, together, the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions accounted for 56.6% of total national inflation. At the item level, fresh tomatoes experienced the highest individual price increase at 153.4% year-on-year, followed by ginger at 100.4%.
Conversely, several key food staples saw notable price reductions over the year, led by limes (-29.9%), maize (-26.4%), Bambara beans (-21.7%), and local rice (-15.6%), helping to ease overall household food budgets.
Concluding the presentation, Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu expressed appreciation to the traders, shop owners, and institutions across all 16 regions who consistently share price data with field officers every month.
Reaffirming the commitment of the Ghana Statistical Service, he assured the public that the Service will continue to publish accurate, independent, and transparent figures on time every month, deepen sub-national data details, and ensure all statistical outputs remain freely accessible.
By Janet Odei Amponsah