News Guide Africa

Tag: Ghana Statistical Service (GSS

  • Cut prices, pass savings to consumers, GSS tells traders

    Cut prices, pass savings to consumers, GSS tells traders

    The latest Producer Price Index (PPI) has reported a year-on-year producer inflation of 5.9% in June 2025, down from 10.1% in May, making it the lowest rate since November 2023.

    On a month-to-month basis, producer prices declined by 1.4%. This means that the average prices producers received for their goods and services in June were 1.4% lower than in May.

    The June PPI becomes the fifth consecutive month of drastic drop. However, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) is urging businesses to go beyond price adjustments and rethink their approach to pricing, strategy, and innovation to ensure those cost reductions translate into real relief for consumers.

    “For businesses, rethink pricing and renegotiate smartly,” Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu, the Government Statistician advised. “Falling costs bring opportunity, but tighter margins too. Stay ahead by innovating, not just adjusting prices.”

    The GSS also issued a strong message to the government and consumers.

    To policymakers, it recommended: “Lock in stability, boost production, and support key sectors with smart incentives to drive demand, protect jobs, and keep the momentum strong.”

    He also urged the government to maintain macroeconomic stability, stimulate production, and provide smart incentives particularly for sectors like mining and manufacturing to sustain growth, protect jobs, and drive demand.

    To consumers, the GSS advised vigilance: “Buy smart, question markups, and support brands that pass savings on.”

    Transport and hospitality services have already seen notable price drops. Transport inflation declined further to -7.0%, while prices in accommodation and food services swung sharply from a 6.5% rise to a 2.7% drop a significant turnaround.

    The Mining and Quarrying sector Ghana’s largest contributor to the PPI with a 43.7% weighting saw inflation plunge by 7.2 percentage points, from 13.7% in May to 6.5% in June 2025.

    Likewise, inflation in the Manufacturing sector, which accounts for 35% of the PPI basket, dropped from 9.8% to 7.6%, representing a 2.2 percentage point reduction. These two sectors were the primary drivers behind the broader decline in producer inflation.

    The data also pointed to continued price reductions in several key sectors. Transport costs, for instance, fell further from -4.8% in May to -7.0% in June 2025.

    In the hospitality industry, hotel and restaurant prices reversed sharply from a 6.5% increase in May to a 2.7% decline in June representing a dramatic 9.2 percentage point swing.

     

  • Ghana to achieve single digit inflation by Q3 amidst threat from utilities price hike

    Adnan Adams Mohammed

    Ghana’s inflation has taken a sharp nosedive in the past two months, falling from 21.2 % in April to 13.7 % in June, after recording 18.4 % in May.

    Base on the recent development, analysts predict that inflation rate could return to single digit by September 2025 beating the government’s own target of mid-2026.

    The 13.7% June inflation is the lowest since December 2021 and also is nearing the end-year target of 11.9%.

    The Head of Finance at Merban Capital attributes the downward trend to a combination of factors, including sustained cedi stability, a tight monetary policy stance by the Bank of Ghana and falling yields on the Treasury bill market, which continue to absorb excess liquidity from the system.

    “All these three factors actually contributed towards the disinflationary pressure. And this can continue even into the third quarter, where we may end up hitting single digit inflation”, Nelson Cudjoe Kuagbedzi noted in a radio interview last week.

    “As I did indicate, 11.9% is the target for the year. But having achieved 13.7% as at second quarter, we may end up hitting single digit by September 2025. And this is good news for businesses, good news for individuals, and good news for the government. This inflation rate is going to provoke a lot of activity within the money market”, he added.

    However, the Ghana Statistical Service is concerned about price pressures from rent, electricity, refuse disposal, charcoal, and yam which remain the top five price pressure points driving inflation.

    Unexpectedly, refuse disposal, despite its small weight of just 0.5% in the inflation basket, saw a staggering year-on-year price surge of 130.9%, making it one of the biggest contributors to the overall rate.

    Meanwhile, Government Statistician Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu, has noted that sustained disinflation presents a crucial opportunity to shift from reactive price controls to more structural solutions.

    He is urging businesses to rethink their sourcing models, noting that: “With inflation on locally produced goods declining faster than imported ones, businesses can reduce exposure to global supply shocks by increasing local sourcing, especially for food, packaging, and logistics inputs.”

    “Businesses could practice strategic pricing, not sharp increases, given the disinflation and even month-on-month deflation as consumers are more price-sensitive.”

    In the face of rising food prices — with staples like yam still among the top inflation drivers — GSS also recommends changes in household purchasing behavior:

    “Households should lean into bulk purchases of staples, buy local produce where possible, and favor in-season vegetables, cereals, and proteins, which are experiencing sharper price drops.”

    As regional disparities in inflation persist, Dr. Iddrisu emphasized that economic policy must become more targeted:

    “Tailor social protection and economic policy by Region as blanket policies will not be effective given wide regional disparities in inflation.”

    The Government Statistician, while addressing a press conference, attributed the decline to what he described as a significant reduction in inflationary pressures that have weighed on the economy in recent months.

    “For the first time in a while, we are recording a month-on-month deflation of 1.2 percent between May and June, suggesting a real and sustained shift in price levels,” Dr. Iddrisu.

    Food inflation fell by 6.5 percentage points to 16.3 percent, down from 22.8 percent in May, while non-food inflation also eased to 11.4 percent from the previous 14.4 percent.

    However, regional disparities remain stark.

    The Upper West Region recorded the highest inflation rate at 32.3 percent, largely driven by rising food and utility costs. In contrast, the Bono Region posted the lowest at 8.4 percent.

    Dr. Iddrisu called for the use of more localized, granular data in policy planning to help address these regional imbalances and sustain the national disinflationary trend.

    The consistent decline over the past six months offers a hopeful sign for policymakers and businesses alike, especially as government targets single-digit inflation by early 2026

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Inflation rises to 40.4%

    Inflation rises to 40.4%

    Year on year inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index, (CPI) has increased to 40.4 percent for the 12 months period end October, 2022 from 37.2 percent recorded at the of September, 2022, after months of rapid currency depreciation.

    Ghana’s cedi had one of its worst months on record in October and has lost around half its value against the dollar in 2022. It has been Africa’s worst performing currency this year, according to the World Bank.

    “It’s possible that the impact of the exchange rate changes will linger on for some number of months,” said government statistician Samuel Kobina Annim, adding the duration of the impact would depend on how effective polices are in the next two to three months at mitigating the effects.

    October inflation was highest in the category of housing, water, electricity and gas, with prices up 69.6%. Furniture, household equipment and maintenance came second, at 55.7%, and transport, including fuel, was third at 46.3%.

    Food inflation rose to 43.7%, from 37.8% last month, driven higher by items such as water, milk, eggs and sugar, according to the statistics agency.

    Ghana’s dollar-denominated sovereign bonds fell, on a day when many emerging market assets were gaining on hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve would pare back its interest rate hikes. Its longest-dated 2061 maturity was down the most, by 0.742 cents to 32.675 cents on the dollar.

    The central bank has hiked its main lending rate by 10 percentage points since the start of the year in attempt to hold back inflation and slow the cedi’s depreciation.

    The food inflation recorded the highest rate among all the components as against non-food inflation, according to figures from the Ghana Statistical Service. The increase by food inflation indicates a jump of more than 3% from the previous rate of 37.2%.

    The other four divisions are Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (69.6%); Furnishings, Household Equipment ad Routine Household Maintenance (55.7%); Transport (46.3%) and Personal Care, Social Protection and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (45.5%).

    Food inflation was 43.7% in the month of October 2022, compared with 37.8% in September 2022. It has bigger weight than the above divisions.

    Eight subclasses in the food inflation group recorded higher rates. This was distantly led by Water (64.3%) followed by Milk, Other Dairy Products and Eggs (58.9%) and Sugar, Confectionery and desserts (54.6%).

    Also in the case of month-on-month food inflation nine subclasses record rates higher than the national average. Milk and Other Dairy Products and Eggs recorded the highest, 7.8%.

    Non-food Inflation was however 37.8% in October 2022, from 36.8% recorded in September 2022.

    Addressing the media, Government Statistician,  Professor Samuel Kobina Annim explained that all items in the component for calculating the rate of inflation recorded an increase.

    Inflation for locally produced items was 39.1%, whilst inflation for imported items was 43.7%.

    Eastern Region recorded the highest inflation of 51.1% in Ghana in October 2022.

    It was followed by Greater Accra region (49.1%) and the Savannah region (47.6%).

    The region with the least inflation was Volta (25.8%).

    The Central Region (57.9%) recorded the highest food inflation while Greater Accra recorded the highest non-food inflation (53.2%).

  • Inflation rate rises to 29.8% in June

    Inflation rate rises to 29.8% in June

    The Year-on-Year inflation rate for June 2022 accelerated to 29.8 per cent, up from 27.6 per cent in May, the Ghana Statistical Service said last week

    The figure means that the Month-on-month inflation between May 2022 and June  2022 stood at 3.0 percent.

    Food inflation for the month of June 2022 was 30.7 per cent compared to 30.1 per cent in May 2022.

    Non-food inflation for June 2022 was 29.1 per cent, while May 2022 recorded a rate of 25.7 per cent.

    Inflation for locally produced items was 29.2 per cent while inflation for imported items was 31.3 per cent.

    At the regional level, the Eastern region recorded the highest inflation of 35.8 per cent while the Upper East Region registered the lowest rate of 21.0 per cent.

    The Consumer Price Index measures changes in the price of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by households.

    Prices are collected for approximately 39,500 products every month with price collection done in 44 markets.

    Products are ordered in a hierarchy of 13 divisions, 44 groups, 98 classes, 156 subclasses and 307 items.

  • Food crisis looming… WB warns amidst Ghana’s rising food inflation

    Food crisis looming… WB warns amidst Ghana’s rising food inflation

    Adnan Adams Mohammed

    Ghanaians are already feeling the heat of food insecurity as World Bank Group warns of imminent food shortage.

    World Bank has indicated that, the world faces a “human catastrophe” from a food crisis arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Bank is worried at the rate in which food prices are rising, saying it would push hundreds of millions of people into poverty and lower nutrition, if the crisis continues.

    The World Bank calculates there could be a “huge” 37% jump in food prices (inflation). Already, Ghanaians are witnessing a record high inflation spurred by leapfrogging food inflation. According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) reported that, March 2022 inflation hit the highest in nearly 13 years to record 19.4%.

    “The higher inflation was pushed largely by food prices”, the Government Statistician announced fortnight ago.

    According to the figures, food inflation recorded a rate of 22.4% in March 2022, compared to 17.4% in February 2022. Stapple (commonly consumed)0 foodstuffs such as: Oil and Fats (28.2%), Water (27.1%), Cereal Products (25.0%), Vegetables (23.8%), Fish and Other Seafood (23.7%), Fruits and Nuts (22.1%), Soft Drinks (20.5%), Live Animals, and Meat (20.2%) recorded inflation rate, higher than the national average.

    Consequently, the Brtton Wood institution  has shared that, the trend would hit the poor hardest, who will “eat less and have less money for anything else such as schooling”.

    In an interview with BBC economics editor Faisal Islam, World Bank president, David Malpass, who leads the institution charged with global alleviation of poverty, said the impact on the poor made it “an unfair kind of crisis… that was true also of COVID”.

    “It’s a human catastrophe, meaning nutrition goes down. But then it also becomes a political challenge for governments who can’t do anything about it, they didn’t cause it and they see the prices going up,” he said on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington.

    The price rises are broad and deep, he said: “It’s affecting food of all different kinds oils, grains, and then it gets into other crops, corn crops, because they go up when wheat goes up”.

    There was enough food in the world to feed everybody, he said, and global stockpiles are large by historical standards, but there will have to be a sharing or sales process to get the food to where it is needed.

    Mr Malpass also discouraged countries from subsidising production or capping prices.

    Instead, he said, the focus needed to be on increasing supplies across the world of fertilisers and food, alongside targeted assistance for the very poorest people.

    The World Bank chief also warned of a knock on “crisis within a crisis” arising from the inability of developing countries to service their large pandemic debts, amid rising food and energy prices.

    “This is a very real prospect. It’s happening for some countries, we don’t know how far it’ll go. As many as 60% of the poorest countries right now are either in debt distress or at high risk of being in debt distress,” he said.

    “We have to be worried about a debt crisis, the best thing to do is to start early to act early on finding ways to reduce the debt burden for countries that are on have unsustainable debt, the longer you put it off, the worse it is,” he added.