Producer Price Index Records 9.7 Percent

The year-on-year producer price inflation for industry in September 2016 was 9.7 percent, representing a monthly rate change of 0.8 percent.

The producer price index measures the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers for the production of their goods and services.

Deputy Government Statistician, Baah Wadieh, announced this to the media yesterday in Accra.

Sectoral performance
He said the utilities sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year producer price inflation rate of 38.2 percent, followed by mining and quarrying sub-sector with 22.2 percent.

The manufacturing sub-sector recorded the lowest year-on-year inflation rate of 1.3 percent.

However, with respect to the monthly changes, the manufacturing sector recorded the highest rate of 0.9 percent followed by the utilities sub-sector with 0.7 percent.

He revealed that 13 out of the 16 major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector in the month of September, 2016 recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 1.3 percent.

Petroleum price
The inflation rate in the petroleum sub-sector was -27.9 percent in September 2015.

This declined to record -34.5 percent in October, 2015.

There was, however, an increment of -21.8 percent in December 2015 which rose further to record 3.3 percent in January, 2016.

Mr Wadieh stated that in February 2016, the petroleum price index declined to 0.5 percent but increased to record 2.9 percent in March 2016 mainly as a result of the base drift effect.

He added that the rate increased again to 6.5 percent in April 2016 but declined slightly to 6.1 percent in May 2016, stating that in June 2016 the rate decreased to record -4.7 percent and then to -19.3 in July 2016.

But increased to -16.3 percent in August 2016 and further to -14.8 percent in September 2016.

Background
In September 2015, the PPI rate for all industry recorded 4.8 percent but declined to record 2.9 percent in October 2015; the figure however  inched up slightly to record 3.0 percent in November 2015,  and then increased further to 11.0 percent in December 2015 and to 16.3 percent in January 2016.

In February 2016, the rate decreased to 14.5 percent and continued its downward trend to record 11.2 percent in April 2016.

The figure dropped in June 2016 to 7.6 percent but increased to 10.4 percent in July 2016 and then to 11.1 percent in August 2016.

By Ernest Pappoe