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Inflation rate for August 2020 drops to 10.5%

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says the decline in inflation in August has given the country its lowest rate since April this year

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says inflation rate for August 2020 dropped to 10.5% because of a marginal drop in food inflation.

The month-on-month decline, to the lowest rate since April 2020, was by 0.4 percentage points.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the government statistician Professor Samuel Annim, said: “Total month-on-month inflation is negative because it is pulled down by negative food inflation (-1.1%) and negative inflation for the recreation, sport and culture division (-1.4%).

Food drove the rate

“The monthly change rate for August stood in contrast to the average 0.9% month-on-month inflation that was recorded during April to July 2020 and the average month-on-month inflation rate of 0.7% that was recorded in the six months before COVID-19,” he said.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded year-on-year inflation of 11.4% for August, representing a 2.3-point drop from the 13.7% recorded in July 2020.

Two subgroups recorded inflation higher than the group’s average rate of 13.7%: vegetables (21.3%) and fish/other seafood (14.3%).

This signals that food was the predominant driver of year-on-year inflation in August. Non-food items recorded year-on-year inflation of 9.9% in August.

Non-food inflation for August was 0.2 percentage points higher than the 9.7% recorded for July 2020.

Regional variations on a theme

Inflation for imported goods was 4.8%, while the average rate for locally produced goods was 12.6%.

Month-on-month inflation for imported goods was 0%, while month-on-month inflation for local goods was -0.8%.

At the regional level, year-on-year inflation ranged from below 5% in Volta to 13.5% in Greater Accra.

Also recording inflation rates above the national average of 10.5% were Ashanti (11.2%), the Western Region (11.6%) and the Eastern Region (11.9%). Volta Region had the lowest year-on-year inflation rate – 4.7%.

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