Ghana’s consumer inflation has gone up by 40.4% between October last year and October this year, the Ghana Statistical Service has announced.
Presenting the highlights and headline figures for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and rate of inflation for October 2022, Government Statistician, Samuel Kobina Annim, noted that “Consumer Price Index for October 2022 stood at 144.4 relative to the 102.9 that was recorded for the same period 2021.”
“Using these two indices, the prices of goods and services for the month of October 2022 went up by 40.4 percent. This literally means that between October 2021 and October 2022, general price levels went up by 40.4 percent over the one-year period,” he added.
This comes amidst the fall of the cedi and the astronomical hike in the price of fuel, among others. The current inflation rate is likely to increase the amount of pressure on the central bank to keep raising borrowing costs, which are already at an all-time high.
Meanwhile, the Ghana cedi experienced one of its worst months on record in October, and by 2022, it will be worth about half as much against the dollar.
The World Bank has described it as the worst performing currency on the continent. Prior to the release of the October figure, the inflation rate in Ghana
for the month of September was 37.2%, suggesting the country’s economy, battered by currency depreciation and fiscal challenges, is not going away any time soon.
On a month-over-month basis, the inflation rate was 2.7% for the month under review, compared to 2% in September 2022. Compared to the previous month,
food inflation for the reviewed month increased by 43.7% on an annual basis.
A brief examination of the statistics also suggests that the cost of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels is rising more rapidly in Ghana.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, the government statistician debunked assertions that his outfit is underreporting inflation figures.
This follows concerns that the current 40.4% rate put out by the statistical service could be hovering around 50 percent instead.
Moments after the announcement, Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, said the Service excluded the unofficial rates.
“Even though GSS says inflation is 40.4%, I feel inflation is in the middle of 100 because it doesn’t add up,” he stated.
Reacting to this, the Head of Price Statistics at the Service, Foster Adjaho, insisted the figures are accurate.
“We cannot take opinions away from people, but the reality is that the rate is 40.4%.”
“Completing inflation takes into consideration averages. So you might have a particular item that you have in mind which has gone up by 50% but then the official range is 40.4%”