body-container-line-1
17.03.2012 Business & Finance

Inflation Eases To 8.6 Per cent

By Maxwell Adombila Akalaare and Jessica Acheampong - Daily Graphic
Inflation Eases To 8.6 Per cent
17.03.2012 LISTEN

Consumers in the country paid 0.7 per cent less for goods and services they bought in the country in February 2012 compared to the amounts paid for those same goods and services in January.

That follows a 0.7 per cent marginal decline in monthly inflation (comparing inflation for the month of February 2012 against that of January 2012) from 2.2 per cent in January to 1.5 per cent in February, the same year.

Yearly inflation – comparing the general changes in prices of goods and services in February 2012 to that of February 2011 – also declined from 8.7 per cent in January to 8.6 per cent in February.

Inflation which measures the average movement in prices of goods and services in the country over a yearly and monthly period is computed and released by the Ghana Statistical Services on monthly basis.

The acting Government Statiscian, Dr Philomena Nyarko, who read the February 2012 release in Accra said the marginal decline in both the monthly and yearly rates were mainly as a result of the positive pressures being exerted on the entire inflation basket by the food and non alcoholic beverages group.

“The downward trend in inflation can be attributed more to the food and non alcoholic beverages group,” she said noting that while food inflation for the month under review was 4.3 per cent, “non food inflation was 11.2 – more than three times higher than the food inflation.”

The inflation basket is classified into two groups; the food and non alcoholic beverages group which has a weight of 44.9 per cent and the non food group with a weight of 55.1 per cent.

The general rise in food production in 2011 through to 2012 has since helped to stabilise inflation in that group, causing it to hover around 2.8 and 4.7 per cent over the past twelve months.

In the regions, the acting government statistician said the Central Region recorded the highest inflation rate of 13.2 per cent while the three northern regions recorded 5.3 per cent, the lowest rate in the regions.

Thus, goods and services in the Central Region cost higher in February 2012 compared to the prices offered for those same goods and services in the other nine regions.

body-container-line