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GHANA’S INFLATION RATE

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Ghana’s inflation hit 33.9%, the highest since 2001

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

Ghana’s consumer inflation reached nearly 34% in August, the highest since 2001, despite a historic rate increase by the central bank.
Consumer inflation in the West African country climbed to 33.9% annually in August from 31.7% in July, according to new figures released by the statistical service Wednesday.

Addressing the media in Accra Wednesday, the head of the service, Samuel Kobina Annim, said the inflation rate was mainly driven by high fuel prices that are affecting transport fares and utility costs.

The surge in prices, high cost of living and the steep fall of the Ghanaian cedi sparked street protests in the capital in June.
Annim cautioned against focusing too much on bad news.

“We need to be careful when we are only looking at just the negative side of what potentially might happen to our economy going forward with all the increases and the global economy. Inasmuch as all those challenges are confronting us, we should also look at some positives that are happening in terms of government interventions.”

ALSO READ: Nigeria’s inflation rises to a 17-year-high of 20.52% in August

Last month, Ghana’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to a record-high 22% in a bid to curb inflation.

The government is also in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout of around $3 billion to strengthen the ailing economy.

Source: VOA

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AfricaAFRICA NEWSBusiness and EconomyGhanaNewsWestern Africa

Ghana’s inflation rises to 31.7% in July

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

Inflation in Ghana accelerated at a faster pace than expected in July as a slump in the value of the cedi raised the cost of imported goods like cooking oil and gasoline.

The annual inflation rate climbed to 31.7% from 29.8% a month prior, Government Statistician Samuel Kobina Annim told reporters Wednesday, in the capital, Accra. That’s the fastest pace since November 2003 and marks the 11th consecutive month the rate has exceeded the top of the central bank’s target band of 6% to 10%. None of the six economists in a Bloomberg survey expected inflation to accelerate at that pace.

The cedi has weakened more than 30% against the dollar since January, making it the second-worst-performing currency in the world of those tracked by Bloomberg, after the Sri Lankan rupee. With central banks unleashing the most aggressive tightening of monetary policy in a generation to cool surging inflation, investors have been selling off riskier assets and buying US dollars.

While price pressures are expected to start easing as Ghana approaches its harvest season and the cost of wheat and other global commodities decline, the central bank may be persuaded to raise the cost of borrowing next month if the cedi continues to depreciate. The Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy committee next meets in September.

“The peaking and subsequent decline in inflation depends on the trajectory of the exchange rate and its pass-through effects on inflation,” Courage Kwesi Boti, an economist at Accra-based GCB Capital Ltd., said before the release.

Annual imported inflation was 33.9% in July and has now outpaced domestic price growth for four months, Annim said. Locally produced inflation was 30.9%, he said. Food-price growth quickened to 32.3% from 30.7% in June, and non-food inflation accelerated to 31.3% from 29.1%. Prices climbed 3.1% in the month.

ALSO READ: S&P Global affirms Ghana’s rating CCC+, Outlook Negative

S&P Global Ratings last week became the latest ratings company to cut its assessment of Ghana’s ability to repay its debt, downgrading its rating by one notch to CCC+, seven levels below investment grade, and changing the outlook to negative from stable. Deteriorating economic conditions prompted the nation last month to seek an economic program from the International Monetary Fund.

The Ghanaian cedi extended its losses, weakening a seventh day by 0.9% to a record low of 8.8869 per dollar by 10:30 a.m. in the capital, Accra. The yield on Ghana’s dollar bonds maturing in 2032 rose 13 basis points to 20.6%.

Source: Bnn Bloomberg

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