Data from Ghana Statistical Service has disclosed that the Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers for the production of their goods and services, has shown a marginal decrease from a record of 52.2% in December 2022 to 52.1% in January 2023

The current rate gives an indication of the extent to which producer prices increased between January 2022 and January 2023 (year-on-year).

According to the data, between January 2022 and January 2023, the PPI increased by 52.1 percent, representing a 0.1 percentage point decrease in producer inflation relative to the rate recorded in December 2022. This gives an explanation to the fact that the month-on-month change in the PPI between December 2022 and January 2023 was 0.9 percent.

Various Sector Analysis

Exempting the construction sector, the PPI News Letter for January 2023 released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) revealed that within the sectors, the producer price inflation in the industry decreased to 58.6 percent in January 2023 from 65.7 percent in December 2022.

Construction PPI Rate

Touching on the construction sector, there was an indication of a decrease in the rate from 22.1 percent in December 2022 to 20.4 percent in January 2023.

“This rate indicates that between January 2022 and January 2023 (year-on-year), the PPI for construction (C-PPI) increased by 20.4 percent, representing a 1.7 percentage point decrease in producer inflation relative to the rate recorded in December 2022 (22.1%).
“The month-on-month change in the C-PPI between December 2022 and January 2023 is 4.3 percent.”
Ghana Statistical Service

Segregating the sectors, GSS noted that inflation in the construction of buildings subsector decreased by 32.1 percentage points over the December 2022 rate of 78.0 percent to 45.9 percent in January 2023.

The rate for the civil engineering sub-sector increased by 7.0 percentage points to 11.4 percent in January 2023.

The specialized construction activities subsector recorded a 5.5 percent inflation rate for January 2023 compared with 4.9 percent in December 2022.

Service Sector PPI Rate

In the Services sector, the rate decreased from 10.5 percent in December 2022 to 9.5 percent in January 2023.

“This rate indicates that between January 2022 and January 2023 (year-on-year), the PPI for service sector (S-PPI) increased by 9.5 percent, representing a 1.0 percentage point decrease in Service Producer Price inflation relative to the rate recorded in December 2022 (10.5%).
“The month-on-month change in the S-PPI between December 2022 and January 2023 is -0.8 percent.”
Ghana Statistical Service

Independently rating the various sub-sectors, GSS in its analysis revealed that the service producer price inflation in the Transport and Storage sub-sector decreased by 1.1 percentage points over the December 2022 rate of 63.7 percent to 62.6 percent in January 2023.

The Accommodation and food sub-sector rate increased by 4.9 percentage points to 40.1 percent in January 2023 while the Information and communication sub-sector recorded a 1.2 percent inflation rate for January 2023 compared to 2.3 percent in December 2022.

Industrial PPI Rate

Focusing on the industrial sector, the PPI inflation rate for January 2023 was 58.6 percent.

“This rate indicates that between January 2022 and January 2023 (year-on-year), the I-PPI increased by 58.6 percent, representing a 7.1 percentage points decrease in Industrial producer inflation relative to the rate recorded in December 2022 (65.7%).
“The month-on-month change in the IPPI between December 2022 and January 2023 is 1.1 percent.”
Ghana Statistical Service

The Industrial producer price inflation in the Mining and Quarrying sub-sector decreased by 5.3 percentage points over the December 2022 rate of 73.4 percent to 68.1 in January 2023. The Manufacturing sub-sector decreased by 11.0 percentage points to 53.3 percent in January 2023.

Electricity and gas recorded a 29.9 percent inflation rate for January 2023, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points over the December rate of (30.4%).

The Water supply, Sewerage, and Waste Management Sub-sector recorded an inflation rate of 26.0 percent.

In summary, GSS explained that the Mining and quarrying (68.1%), transport and storage (62.6%) and manufacturing (53.3%) recorded rates above the national average, while Information and communication activity recorded the lowest rate of 1.2 percent in January 2023.

The PPI for Ghana reports the producer price indices with an index reference period of March 2020 – February 2021 = 100.

The new data released by the GSS captured the the annual (year-on-year) and monthly producer inflation rates for all sectors; Mining and Quarrying, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas, Water Supply, Sewerage, and Waste Management, Construction, Transport and Storage, Food & Accommodation, and Information & Communication.

Ghana Statistical Service further noted that the PPI figure for January 2023 is provisional and is subject to revision when additional data become available. All other indicators are final.