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Inflation dips after three consecutive rise in May

After three consecutive increases in headline consumer inflation since February 2019, the index has recorded a dip of 0.1 percentage points falling to 9.4 percent in May 2019, from 9.5 percent in April.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change over time in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption.

“The marginal fall of 0.1 percentage point in the rate of inflation was due to an 0.6 percentage point fall in the inflation rate of the Food and Non- alcoholic beverages group,” said David Kombat, Deputy Government Statistician, at a press briefing in Accra.

Data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicates that the fall in the inflation rate of the Food and Non- alcoholic beverages group was mainly due to the fall in the inflation rate recorded for Vegetables, Fish and Sea food and Meat and meat products sub-groups.

The Vegetables sub-group recorded the largest fall in inflation rate among the sub-groups of the Food and Non- alcoholic beverages group. Within the Vegetables sub-group, lower inflation rates for May compared to April 2019 were recorded for yam (-2.8 percent), cassava (-2.4 percent), cocoyam (-1.4 percent), okro (-1.2 percent) and tomatoes (-1.1 percent).

Kombat further explained that several other factors contributed to the fall in the rate of inflation in May 2019 compared to April 2019. The major factors include favorable weather pattern, government policy on planting for food and jobs, as well as exchange rate stability.

 Food Group

The Food and non-alcoholic beverages group recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 6.7 percent. This is 0.6 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in April 2019. Five subgroups of the food and non-alcoholic beverages group recorded inflation rates higher than the group’s average rate of 6.7 percent.

Non-Food Group

The Non-food group recorded a rate of inflation of 10.6 percent in May 2019 a 0.2 percent rise on the 10.4 percent recorded in April 2019.

The Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance sub-group recorded the highest rise by 1.7 percentage points from 12.8 percent in April to 14.5 percent in May 2019; The Health sub-group recorded a rise of 1.2 percentage points; the Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics and Recreation and Culture sub-groups recorded rises of 0.9 percentage points each.

Regional Performance

The Upper West region recorded the highest regional combined inflation rate (11.1 percent). The highest inflation rates were recorded for the Transport sub-sector at 21.2 percent; Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance sub-sectors at 13.2 percent; Miscellaneous Goods and Services sub-sector at 12.6 percent and Clothing and Footwear sub-sector at 12.3 percent.

The Upper West region, again, recorded the highest regional non-food inflation rate at 13.8 percent, due to a rise in inflation for the Transport subgroup at 21.2 percent.

The Ashanti region recorded the highest food inflation rate of 7.3 percent in

May 2019 and Coffee, tea and cocoa subgroup recorded the highest inflation rate of 17.4 percent.