Ghana's inflation inches up to 13.2%

Ghana's inflation for November inched up to 13.2 percent year on year from 13.1 percent recorded for October, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said on Wednesday. Addressing the media here on the latest development, acting deputy government statistician Baah Wadieh said the food inflation rate for November was 7.3 percent, compared with 6.9 percent recorded in October. "The year-on-year non-food inflation rate was 17.6 percent in November 2013, representing a 0.1 percentage point drop in the 17. 7 percent recorded for October," he added. The "price drivers" for the food inflation rate were fish and sea foods (9.2 percent), mineral water, soft drinks, fruit juice (9.0 percent), and cereals and cereal products (7.9 percent), added the statistician. He listed the "price drivers" for the non-food inflation as housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (34.1 percent), transport (26.4 percent); miscellaneous goods and services (17.8 percent), and clothing and footwear (17.7 percent). Charles Kwame Amoah, Head of Research at New Generation Investments Limited, said the rise in inflation was due to the pass-through effect of the earlier petroleum tariff increases and the recent utility tariff hikes. "Although the government came out to absorb 25 percent of the electricity price increases, that did not stop producers from increasing their prices, causing a hike in factory gate prices," Amoah intimated. Ghana's Producer Price Index (PPI) rose to 11.6 percent in October year on year. Amoah said the PPI increase for October was indicative of the fact that the current rise in inflation had started at the factory gate in the previous month and distributors of such goods passed on the factory gate price increases to consumers. According to him, food inflation also continued to rise due to the changing taste of Ghanaians for imported food items.