Producer Price inflation reduces to 8.9% in October 2019

This is a 0.2% point drop compared to the 9.1% recorded in September 2019.

According to the data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the mining and quarrying sub-sectors recorded the highest inflation of 34.4%. The utility sub-sector recorded the second highest inflation rate of 12.6%.

The Manufacturing sub-sector recorded the lowest inflation of 3.1%.

According to the Deputy Government Statistician, David Kombat the inflation rate for the mining and quarrying sectors were influenced by developments in the international market.

“The world market prices can influence the price of gold; if the price of gold increases on the world market, producers equally adjust their prices irrespective of whether the cost of input has increased or not.”

He explained that “for utilities, a lot of its pricing is dependent on the government’s policy whether prices should go up or not. It is not just one item that affects the pricing of goods. So even though manufacturers rely on utility in the line of work, there are other things that influence their decision to increase prices or not.”

Meanwhile, the inflation for the petroleum subsector recorded -5.7% for October 2019.

The PPI measures the average change in the prices received by domestic producers for their products.