Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, Government Statistician
GHANA’s YEAR-on-year inflation shot up by 2.2 per cent to reach 29.8 per cent in June 2022.
The latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), which made this known, said the month-on-month inflation dropped by 0.9 percentage points over the same period recording 3.0 per cent.
On a quarterly basis, the GSS said the average rate of inflation has increased by 10.7 percentage points in the second quarter (27.0 per cent) of 2022 relative to the first quarter which registered 16.3 per cent.
Also, the GSS said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for June 2022 was 167.7 relative to 129.2 in June 2021.
The GSS data showed that the rate of inflation was driven by Transport (41.6 per cent); Household Equipment and Maintenance (39.6 per cent); Housing, Water, Gas and Electricity (38.4 per cent); Personal Care and Miscellaneous (31.7 per cent); Recreation, Sports and Culture (31.3 per cent) and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (30.7 per cent).
These items recorded inflation rates higher than the national average.
According to the GSS, food inflation surged to 30.7 per cent in June 2022, from 30.1 per cent recorded in May 2022.
Again, non-food inflation also went up by 3.4 per cent to 29.1 per cent in June 2022. The data showed that while inflation for locally-produced items was 29.2 per cent, that of imported items was 31.3per cent.
“On year-on-year basis, the difference between food inflation (30.7%) and Non-food (29.1%) was 1.6 percentage points. On month-on-month basis, non-food inflation records a higher rate of 3.6% relative to food (2.3%), leading to 1.3 percentage point difference,” it added.
It further noted that the percentage point increase in non-food inflation (3.4) between May and June 2022 was higher than food inflation (0.6), while the percentage point difference between inflation for imported items (31.3 per cent) and locally domestic items (29.2 per cent) was 2.1.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri