The year-on-year inflation rate fell for the second consecutive month to 23.1 percent in May from 25.0 recorded in April 2024, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) announced on Wednesday.
The rate is the lowest the country has recorded in the last 26 months, with food inflation contributing to the decline. Food inflation was also lower at 22.6 per cent from a previous 26.8 per cent in April 2024.
Speaking at the release of the Consumer Price Index for May 2024 in Accra, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, Government Statistician, explained that the prices of goods and services between May 2023 and May 2024 went up by 23.1 percent
The CPI measures the changes in the price of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by households, with the inherent assumption that once any of the prices change on a month-by-month basis, the total price of the basket will also change.
“This indicates a slowdown of 1.9 percentage points relative to the year-on-year inflation that was recorded in April 2024,” the Government Statistician explained. “On a year-on-year basis, the 23.1 percent recorded for May 2024 is the lowest rate of inflation that’s been recorded for the last 26 months,” he said.
He noted that between March and May 2024, there has been a decline from 25.8 per cent in March to 25.0 per cent in April before a further decline to 23.1 per cent in May 2023.
Providing a disaggregation, Prof Annim stated that there was a one percentage point difference between food and non-food inflation, with food inflation recording a rate of 22.6 per cent, while non-food inflation was 23.6 percent.
“This is the second consecutive time that we’ve seen food inflation drop in food inflation as March food stood at 29.6 per cent, declining to 26.8 per cent, and for the second time in a roll, further declined by 4.2 percentage points to 22.6 per cent in May 2024,” he said.
He noted that while the inflation rate for locally produced items was 24.7 per cent, that of imported items stood at 19.6 per cent for May 2024.
He said inflation varied widely across regions, with the Upper East recording the highest rate at 35.6 per cent, while Oti had the lowest at 10.3 per cent.
The rate of inflation is derived from the CPI, and three key variables are used both in the computation of CPI and the rate of inflation – prices, quantities, and weights of expenditure in the basket.
The data on prices are collected on a monthly basis from all the 16 administrative regions of the country in 57 markets from about 8,337 outlets for approximately 47,800
