Inflation rose by 3.2 percentage points from 37.2% in September to record 40.4% in the month of October 2022, driven mainly by increases in food prices, household maintenance expenses as well as housing, electricity and fuel.

According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October 2022 based on the new series was 144.4 relative to 102.9 for October 2021 using the linked series.

The current inflation rate means that in the month of October 2022, the general price level was 40.4% higher than October last year. Five sub-categories recorded inflation rates above the national average.

Wide disparity was observed across the 13 divisions with year-on-year Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels leading by 69.6%, followed by Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (55.7%); Transport (46.3%); Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services (45.5%) and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (43.7%).

The division with the highest year-on-year inflation (Housing, water electricity, gas and other fuels) was more than seven times as high as the lowest, Education Service (9.5%).

Regarding the shares of inflation across divisions, the share of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages was the highest (47.0%), followed distantly by Housing, Water, Electricity and Gas (17.8%), Transport (11.7%) and the division with the least share was Insurance and Financial Services (0.1%).

According to the GSS, the top three divisions; Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels; and Transport, contributed more than three quarters to the rate of inflation in October 2022.

On a month-on-month basis, Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics recorded the highest inflation (3.8%) and the Insurance and Financial Services recorded the lowest, 0.1%Services

Meanwhile, the month-on-month basis, inflation between September and October 2022 was 2.7% which is 0.7 percentage points higher than the 2.0% recorded in September 2022.

Food and non-food inflation

According to the data, year-on-year Food inflation for the month of October was 43.7%, 5.9 percentage points higher than the rates of 37.8 percent recorded in September 2022. Month-on-month Food inflation was 3.2% in October 2022.

Focusing on food inflation on a year-on-year basis for October 2022, 8 subclasses recorded higher rates. This was distantly led by Water (64.3%) followed by Milk, Other Dairy Products and Eggs (58.9%) and Sugar, Confectionery and desserts (54.6%).

Also, in the case of month-on-month food inflation, 9 subclasses record rates higher than the national average. Milk and Other Dairy Products and Eggs recorded the highest rate of 7.8% while cocoa drinks recorded a deflation of 1.5%.

Non-food Inflation also went up to 37.8% in October this year, up from 36.8% recorded in the prior month. Month-on-month Non-Food inflation was 2.3%.

The data further revealed that inflation for locally produced items rose to 43.7% in October 2022, 39.1%, up from 35.8 percent in September, 2022. Inflation for imported items inched up to 43.7%, up 3 percentage points from 40.7 percent in September 2022.

This means the percentage point difference between inflation for imported items (43.7%) and locally domestic items (39.1%) was 4.6 in the month of October.

Regional analysis showed that the Central Region (57.9%) recorded the highest food inflation while Greater Accra recorded the highest non-food inflation (53.2%).

The difference between the regions with the highest inflation rate, Eastern Region (51.1%) and the lowest, Volta Region (25.8) for October 2022 was almost twice.