Ghana has, for the second consecutive time this year, recorded the lowest year-on-year inflation rate.

The inflation rate recorded for the month of May 2021 was 7.5 percent, which is one percentage point lower than the 8.5 percent recorded in April this year.

The figure falls within the medium-term inflation target of 8.0±2 percent and stands as the lowest recorded in more than two years.

Month-on-month inflation between April and May 2021 was 0.8 percent, which is 0.7 percentage points lower than what was recorded last month.

Background

The Ghana Statistical Service, in 2019, introduced a rebased Consumer Price Index as part of continuous efforts to improve the quality of its data.

With the new series, the year-on-year inflation rate as measured by the CPI was 7.8 percent in August 2019.

A month after the index was rebased, Ghana saw an inflation rate of 7.6 percent; the lowest inflation rate recorded in Ghana at the time.

The national year-on-year inflation rate was 7.5 percent in May 2021, and it was also the lowest recorded since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

The current figure places the government in good standing to attain the 8 percent target set for this year as announced in the 2021 budget statement.

The data further disclosed a significant jump in inflation in the transport sector. This could be attributed to the hike in petroleum prices in May.