Partial lockdown pushes inflation to 10.6 per cent in April

The panic buying which was experienced prior to the partial lockdown of Accra and Kumasi has pushed the country’s inflation up from 7.8 per cent in March to 10.6 per cent at the end of April.

This represents the highest inflation the country has recorded since the rebasing of consumer price inflation (CPI) in August 2019.

This might also affect the decision of the next monetary policy committee meeting by the Bank of Ghana, as the new figure is way higher than its target of 8 per cent.

According to the April 2020 data released by the Ghana Statistical Service, month-on-month inflation between March 2020 and April 2020 was 3.2 per cent.

In the month of April 2020 alone, the general price level was 10.6 per cent higher than April 2019.

Food inflation was 14.4 per cent while non-food inflation was 7.7 per cent.
Inflation for locally produced items was 13.1 per cent, while inflation for imported items was 4.9 per cent.

In terms of regions, the Greater Accra recorded the highest inflation of 15.1 per cent. Followed by the Ashanti region.

The Upper East Region registered the lowest inflation rate of 2.3 per cent.