Year-on-year inflation rose slightly in July to 11.4%, compared with 11.2% in June 2020. According to figures from the Ghana Statistical Services, increases in food prices continued to influence the rate of inflation.
Month-on-month inflation between June 2020 and July 2020 was however 0.5%. This is lower than the 1.0% recorded between May and June 2020.
Only two of the 13 divisions had higher-than-average rates. They were housing, water, electricity and gas (20.3%) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.7%).
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This is however 0.1 of a percentage point lower than in June 2020 (13.8%) and 1.4 percentage points lower than May 2020 (15.1%).
But year-on-year non-food inflation stood at 9.7%, higher than the 9.2% measured in June 2020.
Within the food division, vegetables (28.2%) and fruit and nuts (13.0%) were the subclasses with the highest rates of inflation. The month-on-month rate for fruit and nuts stood at 0%, while vegetables became cheaper, inflating at a negative rate of -1.5%.
The non-food subclasses with the lowest price expansion were life and accident insurance (-13.4%), electricity (-35.5%) and electrical appliances for personal care (-66.4%).
Housing, water, electricity and gas recorded the highest year-on-year price increases of 20.3% in the non-food category. Also, costs of imported goods went up by 5.1%, while those of local goods were 14.1% on average.
Western stayed most stable
At the regional level, Greater Accra recorded the highest year-on-year inflation (16.2%), while the Volta Region recorded 4.2%.
Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, said the month-on-month inflation was between 0.5% in the Western Region and 1.6% in the Upper West, except in the transport division. Other divisions saw lower month-on-month inflation between June and July 2020 than on average between April and June 2020.
The rates show that prices are increasing at pre-COVID-19 levels, he said. With the exception of fuels, most product categories saw month-on-month inflation rates comparable to those of the period October 2019 to March 2020.
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