June Inflation Hits 10 Per Cent

By Kingsley Asare and Deborah Asuma

The country's consumer price inflation for June 2018 year-on-year basis increased marginally to 10.0 per cent from 9.8 per cent in May, Acting Government Statistician, Mr Baah Wadieh has announced.

The increase, he said represented a 0.2 per cent change year-on year from the figure recorded in May, while the monthly change rate stood at 1.0 per cent.

Mr Wadieh at a press briefing in Accra yesterday attributed the slight increase in the June inflation rate to the hike in the non-food inflation rate.

He said the non-food inflation rate year-on-year increased from 10.9 per cent in May to 11.2 per cent in June this year and was influenced by increase in the inflation rate of transport, which went up by 15.5 per cent.

The Acting Government Statistician explained that the major price drivers for the non-food inflation were clothing and foot wear, transport, recreation and culture with inflation rates of 1.6, 15.5 and 13.8 respectively.

Mr Wadieh indicated that the food inflation rate dropped from 7.6 per cent in May to 7.3 in June, and the main price drivers for the food inflation were coffee, tea cocoa and fruits which recorded inflation rates of 10.3 per cent and 9.6 per cent respectively.

"In June 2018, the year-on-year inflation rate for imported items of 11.8 per cent was 2.6 percentage points higher than that of locally produced items of 9.2 per cent," he said.

Touching on the regional inflation rates, Mr Wadieh said the year-on-year inflation rate ranged from 8.1 per cent in the Upper East Region to 11.9 per cent in Upper West Region.

He disclosed that at four regions, namely Upper West, Brong-Ahafo, Western and Ashanti Regions recorded inflation rates higher than the national average of 10.0 and Northern Region recorded the same inflation rate as the national average of 10.0 per cent.

"Upper West Region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 11.9 per cent, followed by Brong-Ahafo Region (10.9 per cent), while the Upper East Region recorded the lowest year-on-year inflation (8.1 per cent) in June 2018," he said.

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