The Producer Price Inflation (PPI) rate, a measure of the ex-factory prices of goods and services in the country, has risen for the third consecutive month to 10.6 percent in October 2021. This rate is an indication that the average prices that domestic producers received for the production of their goods and services have gone up year-on-year, thus between October 2020 and October 2021.
October’s PPI rate represents a 1.8 percentage points increase in producer inflation relative to the 8.8 percent recorded in September 2021. After declining from 8.4 percent in July 2021 to 8.1 percent in August 2021, producer price inflation has picked up strongly in the subsequent months in the year.
Overall, the Producer Price Index rose to 797.2 in October 2021, from 720.6 in the corresponding month last year when the actual PPI was 8.4 percent. So far this year, March recorded the highest year-on-year PPI rate of 13.0 percent whilst August recorded the lowest rate of 8.1 percent.
The month-on-month change in producer price index between September 2021 and October 2021 was 2.0 percent, the highest in the past five months. The month-on-month PPI between August and September was 0.9 percent.
PPI Trends
Notably, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) provided information on inflation rates for all industry and its three major sub-sectors for the last twelve months. The major sub-sectors include Mining and Quarrying, Manufacturing and Utilities.
The producer price inflation in the Mining and Quarrying sub-sector decreased by 1.5 percentage points over the 0.5 percent recorded in September 2021 to -1.0 percent in October 2021.
The producer inflation for the Manufacturing sub-sector, which constitutes more than two-thirds of the total industry, increased by 3.1 percentage points to record 16.1 percent. The utility sub-sector recorded 0.2 percent inflation rate for October 2021.
The manufacturing sub-sector
In October 2021, three out of the sixteen major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 16.1 percent, according to the GSS. Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel recorded the highest inflation rate of 38.2 percent in October 2021, as compared to 27.4 percent in September 2021.
On the other hand, inflation was least in the Publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media with a rate of 0.0 percent.
Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral product also registered an annual rate of 14.4 percent for October 2021, as compared to 12.7 percent in September 2021. Manufacture of food products and beverages witnessed a rise in its annual rate to 12.5 percent in October 2021, up from 9.9 percent recorded in September 2021.
Electricity and Water Supply category experienced a marginal increment in its inflation rate to 0.2 percent in October 2021, as compared to 0.1 percent in September 2021.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) warned that the figures for October 2021 are provisional. This means that they are subject to revision when additional data become available but the Service assured that all other indicators are final.
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