Ghana’s inflation rate soared again to hit 29.8 percent in the month of June, a 2.2 percentage point increase compared to the 27.6 percent recorded in May.
This comes as many stakeholders continue to mount pressure on the government and the Bank of Ghana to quickly institute measures to check the continuous rise in the inflation rate.
The 2.2 percentage points gap however comes as the lowest increase recorded since February. This signifies a slow-down in the inflation curve compared to previous months.
On a monthly basis, inflation between May 2022 and June 2022 was three percent.
The rise in inflation was once again influenced by transport, housing, water, gas and electricity, and food.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the rate of inflation was driven by Transport (41.6%); Household Equipment and Maintenance (39.6%); Housing, Water, Gas and Electricity (38.4%); Personal Care and Miscellaneous (31.7%); Recreation, Sports and Culture (31.3%) and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (30.7%).
These items recorded inflation rates higher than the national average out of the 13 divisions for the computation of inflation.
Food inflation stood at 30.7 percent, a marginal increase from 30.1 percent in May, while the average food inflation over the last 12 months was 17.5 percent.
Non-food Inflation was 29.1 percent, marking a significant increase from 25.7 percent in May.
Whilst inflation for locally produced items was 29.2%, that of imported items was 31.3%.
For the third month in a row (since April 2022), imported items record higher inflation rates than locally produced items. The gap widened in June 2022 (2.1 percentage points) relative to the variations recorded in both April (1.7 percentage points) and May (0.9 percentage points).
Regional inflation
Overall eastern Region recorded the overall highest inflation (35.8 percent) in the period under review followed by Western Region (33.9 percent) and Central Region (31.6 percent).
The Upper East region recorded the lowest rate rate of inflation of 21%. The region again recorded the lowest inflation rate of 19.9% for food inflation.
Central Region recorded highest food inflation (40.9 percent) while Eastern Region had the highest non-food inflation (35.5 percent).
CBN