Inflation falls for fourth consecutive time, now at 42.1%

Inflation has dropped to 41.2 percent for the month of April 2023.  This represents a 3.8 percentage point decrease from the 45.0 percent recorded in March 2023.

This was captured in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

Per the data, food inflation also stood at 48.7 and Non- food inflation 35.4 %.

Inflation had been rising until January where it started experiencing a decline.

For the fourth consecutive time the inflation rate for the year 2023 has recorded a decline with the month of April recording 41.2 percent.

The decline comes at a time where the country is experiencing several economic challenges which have forced government to rollout a Domestic Debt Exchange program.

This continuous down turn of the inflation rate may mean a positive outlook for the country as government awaits a 3 billion dollar IMF deal.

Food and Non-Food Inflation

According to the figures, food inflation recorded a rate of 48.7% in April 2023 as compared to 50.8% in March 2023.

Non-food inflation however recorded a rate of 35.4 % in March 2023, from 40.6% recorded in March 2023.

The disaggregation of April 2023 year on year inflation revealed that housing , water, electricity, gas and other fuels recorded the highest inflation of 59 percent with restaurant  and accommodation recording the least inflation of 4. 2 Percent

Inflation for locally produced items stood at 38.2%, whereas inflation for imported items stood at 43.1%.

For the month-on-month, inflation stood at 2.4% in April 2023. Food and Alcoholic Beverage recorded the highest inflation of 4.3%, whilst non-food inflation was 0.7%.

At a press conference to announce the rates, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim indicated “In the month of April 2023, the rate of inflation stood at 41.2 % on a year-on-year basis. This 41.2% that was recorded for the month of April signifies a 3.8 percentage drop relative to the rate that was recorded for the month of March 2023 which stood at 45.0%. From a food and non-food perspective, we recorded a 13.3 percentage point difference with food inflation for the month of April being 48.7% and non-food inflation being 35.4%.”

“We have seen a much sharper drop from a non-food perspective as non-food dropped by a 5.2 percentage point between the rate that was recorded in March 2023 relative to the rate that is recorded for the month of March 2023. From a food perspective, we saw a relatively smaller drop between the month of March 2023 and the month of April 2023 with a drop of about 2.1 percentage points,” Professor Annim added.

Source: Ghana Business