Annual Inflation in Ghana rose to 31.7% in July 2022, the highest rate since 2003, according to the Ghana Statistical Service.
The rise in inflation stands as follows for July 2022:
- 31.7% Year-on-Year (YoY) compared to July 2021
- 3.1% Month-over-Month (MoM) compared to June 2022
The Ghana Statistical Service also provided inflation data for the last 12-month period, alongside the CPI (consumer price index) which measures change in consumer prices based on tracking a basket of certain goods.
While from the monthly figure we can see that inflation is slowing for 4 months now, the government statistician said ‘it would be early days to say that inflation is peaking, and early days to say whether the month-to-month variation is truly slowing.’
The latest figures come after the Central Bank of Ghana raised the benchmark lending rate to 17% in March 2022, the highest increase in 20 years, made to tame the worsening fiscal situation. This rate would go up in May 2022 to 19% where it was maintained for 2 months.
Here are more July 2022 stats:
- Food inflation (0.437) was 32.3% rising from 30.7% in June 2022
- The average food inflation over the last 12 months was 19.4%
- Non-food inflation was 31.3% in July 2022, up from 29.1% in June 2022
- The average food sector inflation over the last 12 months was 17.2%
- Inflation for locally produced items was 30.9%
- Inflation for imported items was 33.9%
The government has put the blame majorly on global crises such as COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters, Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, said:
“We can’t say that things are getting better, because on the face of what we’re seeing, it’s coming from different sources.”
– Government Statistician