The national year-on-year inflation continues its rising trend, rising for the eighth consecutive month to record 13.9 percent in January 2022.

The national year-on-year inflation rate in January was 1.3 percentage points higher than the 12.6 percent recorded in December 2021, driven mainly by two sub-divisions.

annim spotlight — Prof. Samuel Annim Kobina

“For the first time in seven months, non-food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis surpasses food inflation and the main driver was Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels”.
Prof. Samuel Annim Kobina – Government Statistician

According to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) Newsletter released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on Wednesday, February 9, 2022, two divisions (Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, and Transport) recorded inflation rates above the national average of 13.9%.

The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels sub-division recorded an inflation rate of 28.7% in the first month of the year. The current inflation rate for the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels’ sub-division was 8 percentage points higher than the 20.7 percent recorded in December last year.

Month-on-month inflation between December 2021 and January 2022 was 2.1%, up from 1.2 percent in the previous month. This is the highest monthly inflation rate since April 2020 (3.2%).

Food Inflation

Food inflation in January rose to 13.7%, higher than both December’s food inflation (12.8%) and the average of the previous 12 months of 10.4 percent.

Food inflation’s contribution to total inflation decreased marginally from 45.2% in December 2021 to 44.2% in January 2022. Overall, month-on-month food inflation was 2.0%, which is higher than the twelve-month national month-on-month rolling average of food inflation of 1.1%.

Fourteen out of the fifteen food subclasses recorded positive month-on-month inflation with Fruit and Vegetable juices recording a deflation (-0.4%).

Non-Food Inflation

Non-food year-on-year inflation on average went up to 14.1 percent in January 2022 from 12.5 percent in December 2021. Two out of the 12 Non-food Divisions had the 12 months rolling average to be higher than the year-on-year inflation for January 2022 for the divisions. Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuels recorded the highest inflation in January 2022 (28.7%).

Regional inflation

At the regional level, the overall year-on-year inflation in January 2022 ranged from 6.9% in the Eastern Region to 18.4% in the Greater Accra Region. Greater Accra Region recorded the highest month-on-month inflation of 5.0 percent. Upper West region recorded a negative month-on-month inflation rate in January 2022 (-1.0%).

Imported and Local Inflation

Inflation for imported goods rose for the fourth consecutive month to 11.0% in January 2022, higher than the 10.4% recorded in December 2021. Imported inflation continue rise over the past months. Inflation was 9.8 percent and 8.8 percent in November and October last year, respectively.

Similarly, Inflation for locally produced items continue to rise since May last year, running counter to the country’s quest to encourage the patronage of made in Ghana products. According to the GSS, inflation for locally produced items rose to 15.0%, up from the 13.3% recorded in December 2021.