The Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) for March 2019 has increased to 9.3 percent.
The rise represents a 0.1 percentage increase relative to the 9.2 percent recorded in February 2019.
The Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) measures the change over time in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption.
The inflation rate for March, 2019 of 9.3 percent, marks the second consecutive rise in the inflation rate for this year, following February’s inflation rate of 9.2 percent which increased from 9 percent in January.
Speaking to Citi Business News on the rise in the inflation rate for March, outgoing Acting Government Statistician, David Kombat outlined the reasons for the rise stating that the main price drivers caused the increase.
“The main “price drivers” for the non-food inflation rate were Recreation and Culture (14.1%), Transport (13.7%), Clothing and footwear (13.3%), and Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance (12.2%). On the other hand The “price drivers” for the food inflation rate were Coffee, tea and cocoa (13.0%), Mineral water, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices (11.1%), Fruits (10.2%), and Meat and meat products (9.1%).”
Mr. Kombat further highlighted the regional trends in terms of the Consumer price inflation stating that the Upper East region recorded the lowest inflation rate while the Upper west region recorded the highest inflation.
“Four regions (Upper West, Brong Ahafo, Western and Ashanti) recorded inflation rates above the national average and Volta region recorded the same inflation rate as the national average of 9.3 percent. Upper West region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 11.4%, followed by Brong Ahafo region (10.2%), while the Upper East region recorded the lowest year-on-year inflation rate (7.9%) in March 2019.”
New direction from the New Government Statistician
On his part the New Government Statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim stated that going forward his administration will prioritize transparency in order to enhance the work of the Ghana Statistical Service.
“Moving forward management is going to consolidate the high standards of deliverable that the service has chalked over the period, but more importantly add certain elements to it. Notably has to do with the issue of transparency with the way this exercise is done. The transparency will lead the service to involve people more in terms of how the inflation basket and the weights are arrived at. Another area of change going forward will involve a heavy use of technology in our work.”
Source: Citi News
