Inflation rate for January 2016 has hit a record high of 19 percent, showing a monthly change rate of 4.6%. This is the highest the country has recorded in six years, after a similar rate of 19.6% in August 2009.
The new rate means that the general price level went up by 4.6% between December 2015 and January 2016.
The inflation rate measures the average rise in the prices of all consumer goods and services in the country.
[contextly_sidebar id=”a8kDnhmip7ueWxCsID1jddE2UkwCpjm5″]In December 2015, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) announced a 59.2 per cent increase in electricity tariffs, while water went up to about 89 per cent.
In addition, fuel prices also went up by over 20 per cent in January.
Announcing the figures, the Deputy Government Statistician, Mr. Baah Wadieh stated that the increases in the utility tariffs contributed to the sharp increase.
Explaining the figures, Mr. Wadieh stated that the monthly change rate for January 2016 was 4.6 per cent compared with December change of 1.1 per cent.
“The food inflation rate for January was 8.2 per cent slightly up from the 8.0 per cent recorded in December 2015”, he said.
On non-food inflation rate, Mr. Wadieh stated that the figures stood at 25.5 per cent from 23.3 per cent in December 2015.
“The non-food inflation rate of 25.5% is more than three times, higher than the food inflation rate of 8.2%,” he added.
On imported items, he stated that the inflation rate was 18.7 per cent in January 2016, compared with 18.3 percent in December, while that of locally produced items was 19.1 per cent.
He pointed out that the main “price drivers” for the non-food inflation rate were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, contributing about 45.5 per cent, while transport added 30.8 per cent.
“The “price drivers” for the food inflation rate were coffee, tea and cocoa, mineral water, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery, food products and vegetables”, he added.
On regional basis, two Regions (Ashanti and Greater Accra) recorded inflation rates higher than the national average of 19.0 per cent.
The Greater Accra Region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 23.1 per cent, while the Upper East Region recorded the lowest of 14.1 per cent.
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana