April inflation drops to single digit

The Consumer Price Index (inflation) for April 2018, the year-on-year has gone down to 9.6%, compared with the 10.4% recorded in March 2018.

The monthly change rate in April 2018 was 0.9% compared with the 1.1% recorded in March 2018.

The year-on-year non-food inflation rate for April 2018 was 10.6% compared with the rate of 11.8% recorded in March 2018.

The year-on-year food inflation rate for April 2018 was 7.4%, compared with 7.3% recorded in March 2018.

Addressing the Journalists in Accra, The Acting Government Statistician of The Ghana Statistical Service, Baah Wadieh said “the year-on-year non-food inflation rate (10.6%) is almost one and half times that of the food inflation rate (7.4%).

In April 2018, the year-on-year inflation rate for imported items (12.0%) was 3.5 percentage points higher than that of locally produced items (8.5%)”, adding that, the main price drivers for the non-food inflation rate were Clothing and footwear (17.2%), Recreation and Culture (13.6%), Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine ‘ Maintenance (13.0%) and Miscellaneous goods and services (12.3%).

Accorsing to him, “the price drivers for the food inflation rate were Coffee, tea and cocoa (10.5%), Fruits (9.8%), Meat and meat products (8.8%), Mineral water, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices (8.8%), Food products n.e.c (8.5%) and Vegetables (7.9%).”

Five regions (Upper West, Brong Ahafo, Western, Northern and Ashanti) recorded inflation rates higher than the national average of 9.6% .

Upper West region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 11.7%, followed by Brong Ahafo region (10.7%), while the Upper East region recorded the lowest year-on-year inflation (8.2%) in April 2018.

The April 2018 rate of 9.6% is the lowest since January 2013, he mentioned.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change over time in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption, with reference to the price level in 2012, the base year, which has an index of 100.

The year-on-year inflation rate as measured by the CPI was 9.6 percent in April 2018, down by 0.8 percentage point from the 10.4 percent recorded in March 2018.

This rate of inflation for April 2018 is the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the twelve-month period, from April 2017 to April 2018.