[ 2016-02-11 ]

January Inflation rate rises sharply to 19 per cent
Accra , Feb 10, GNA - The rate of inflation in
January rose sharply to 19 per cent compared to
17.7 per cent in December, spurred by rise in
utility and fuel prices.

Mr Baah Wadieh, the Deputy Government
Statistician, attributed the spike to the rise in
utility and fuel prices.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission in
December announced a 59.2 per cent increase in
electricity tariffs while water went up to about
89 per cent. In January fuel prices also went up
by 27 per cent.

The monthly change rate for January 2016 was 4.6
per cent compared with December change of 1.1 per
cent.

The food inflation rate for January was 8.2 per
cent slightly up from the 8.0 per cent recorded in
December 2015.

On the other hand, the non-food inflation rate for
January stood at 25.5 per cent from 23.3 per cent
in December 2015.

“The non-food inflation rate (25.5%) is more
than three times higher than the food inflation
rate (8.2%),”Mr Wadieh said.

The inflation rate for imported items was 18.7 per
cent in January 2016 compared with 18.3 per cent
in December while that of locally produced items
was 19.1 per cent versus 17.5 per cent for the
same period.

The main “price drivers” for the non-food
inflation rate were Housing, water, electricity,
gas and other fuels contributing about 45.5 per
cent while transport added 30.8 per cent.

The “price drivers” for the food inflation
rate were Coffee, tea and cocoa, Mineral water,
soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, Sugar,
jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery, Food
products and Vegetables.

Two regions (Ashanti and Greater Accra) recorded
inflation rates higher than the national average
of 19.0 per cent.

The Greater Accra Region recorded the highest
year-on-year inflation rate of 23.1 per cent while
the Upper East Region recorded the lowest of 14.1
per cent.

Source - GNA

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