The Producer Price Inflation (PPI) which measures the ex-factory prices of goods and services in the country was 8.4 percent in October 2020.
Year-on-year, this means that between October 2019 and October 2020, the PPI increased by 8.4 percent.
This rate represents a 1.3 percentage point decrease in producer inflation relative to the rate of 9.7 percent recorded in September 2020.
This is according to a newsletter released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on Wednesday, November 18, 2020.
The month-on-month change in PPI between September 2020 and October 2020 was 0.3 percent which is a 0.1 percentage point lower than the 0.2 month-on-month change recorded between August and September 2020.
Giving a further breakdown, the GSS noted that the producer price inflation in the Mining and Quarrying sub-sector increased by 3.5 percentage points over the September 2020 rate of 31.8 percent to record 35.3 percent in October 2020.
“The producer inflation for Manufacturing, which constitutes more than two-thirds of the total industry, decreased by 1.1 percentage points to record 5.1 percent. The utility sub-sector decreased by 5.4 percentage points over the September 2020 rate of 5.8 percent to record 0.4 percent”.
The GSS explained that “the PPI for Ghana, reports the producer price indices with reference to September 2006, the base period”.
According to the office in charge of national statistics, “this release shows the annual (year-on-year) and monthly producer inflation rates for all industry and three major subsectors of industry (Mining and Quarrying, Manufacturing, and Utilities) for the last twelve months”.
The Service, however, cautioned that “the figures for October 2020 are provisional and are subject to revision when additional data become available. All other indicators are final”.
Trends in PPI
The GSS provided a trend analysis for the PPI over twelve months. According to the Service, in October 2019, the producer price inflation rate for all industries was 8.9 percent. The rate increased consistently to 14.5 percent in January 2020 but declined to 6.8 percent in March 2020.
“After that, the rate increased continuously to record 9.5 percent in June 2020 but declined to 9.0 percent in August 2020. The rate increased to 9.7 percent in September 2020 but declined to record 8.4 percent in October 2020”.
Manufacturing Sector
The GSS stated that “during October 2020, eight out of the sixteen major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 5.1 percent.
“Manufacture of rubber and plastic products recorded the highest inflation rate of 16.5 percent, while the Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products, and nuclear fuel recorded the least inflation rate of -4.6 percent”.
Petroleum Price Index
The producer inflation rate in the petroleum sub-sector was -5.7 percent in October 2019. The rate increased consistently to a record 20.6 percent in January 2020 but declined continuously to a record -15.4 percent in May 2020.
However, the rate increased continuously to record -0.3 percent in September 2020 and declined to record -4.6 percent in October 2020.
