Ghana misses out on single digit inflation target for 2021 …as it records 12.2 % increase in Dec

The government has missed out on its single digit inflation target for the year 2021 as country’s year-on-year inflation rate for December 2021 marginally increased to 12.6 per cent from 12. 2 per cent in November.

The December inflation is above the Bank of Ghana’s inflation target of 8+/-2 per cent for 2021.

 The Government Statistician, Professor Samuel K. Annim, who announced this at a news conference in Accra on Wednesday, said the rise in inflation in December was influenced by the rise in the prices of food and housing, water, electricity and gas.

He said for the sixth month in a row, prices of goods and services have consistently increased, going up by 4. 8 percentage points between June 2021(7.8 per cent) and December 2021(12. 6 per cent)

Prof. Anim explained that food inflation for December dropped to 12. 8 per cent from 13.1 per cent recorded in November with an average of the past 12 months as 10.3 per cent.

However,  he said, food inflation’s contribution to the total inflation decreased from 47.7 per cent in  November to 45.2 per cent in December adding that the overall monthly food inflation rate was 1.2 per cent which was higher than the 12 month national month-on-month rolling average of 1.0 per cent.

He  said  14 out of the  15  food sub-classes recorded positive month-on-month inflation with coffee and  coffee substitutes recording a  deflation of -0.3 per cent.

For non-food, Prof. Anim said inflation went up by 12.5 per cent from 11.6 per cent recorded in November.

 He said two out of the non-food group had the 12 months rolling average to be higher than the year-on-year inflation of December 2021.

“Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels recorded the highest inflation in December 2021,” he added.

 The government statistician said inflation for locally produced items was 13.3 per cent while that of imported items was 10.4 per cent.

On  regional basis,  he said, Upper  West recorded the highest overall inflation of 18.6 per cent,  with Eastern  Region  recording the lowest with  7.4 per cent.

“For food inflation, Upper West had the highest inflation of 31.1 per cent with Ashanti Region recording the highest in non-food with 13.0 per per cent.

Source: Ghanaian Times