Inflation in Ghana drops to single digit in November 

The rate represents a 0.3 percentage point decrease in consumer inflation which measures the average change in the general price levels of goods and services over a period of time and measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), relative to the 10.1 percent recorded in October 2020.

The Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Annim, who announced this in Accra yesterday, said the national month-on-month inflation from October 2020 to November 2020 was 0.3 percent, slowing down for the fourth consecutive month post-coronavirus (COVID-19), leading to a single digit for the month under review.

Two of the 13 divisions had higher than average inflation rates; ‘housing, water, electricity, gas’ (21.0 percent, up from 20.2 percent recorded last month), and ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ (11.7 percent down from 12.6 percent last month).

At the regional level, the overall year-on-year inflation ranged from 3.4 percent in the Upper West and Volta regions to 15.2 percent in the Greater Accra Region.

The Greater Accra Region is the only region that recorded a food inflation rate of over 8 percent (13.7 percent).

The difference between food (13.7 percent) and non-food (16.2 percent) inflation was just 2.5 percentage points, while in the Ashanti Region, the difference was 9.4 percentage points (5.7 percent compared to 15.1 percent).

Food contributed 53.0 percent to the total inflation and thus, it is still the predominant driver of year-on-year inflation.

Prof. Annim also said the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, and Gas’ subclass contributed 22.6 percent to the total inflation, being the highest contribution of the division since the rebasing in August 2019.