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August Producer Price Inflation increases to 10.2 % ….highest in 12 months

The country’s year-on-year Producer Price Inflation rate for August this year inched up to 10.2 per cent from 8.8 in July, the highest in twelve months, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has announced.

This represents a 1.4 per cent point increase in producer inflation relative to the rate recorded in July 2019 and a month-on-month change rate of 1.2 per cent between July and August.

Announcing this at a news conference in Accra yesterday, the Acting Deputy Government Statistician in charge of Operations, Mrs Araba Forson said the hike in the producer inflation rate was influenced by the increase in the producer inflation rate of mining and quarrying and manufacturing.

The producer price inflation rate for mining and quarrying in August increased to 36.5 per cent from 27.6 per cent driven by the rise in gold price on the world market.

The manufacturing sector recorded a rise in producer price inflation rate from 5.4 per cent in July to 5.8 per cent in August, largely driven by increase in the inflation rate of refined food products.

“The producer inflation in the mining and quarrying sub-sector increased by 8.9 percentage points over the July 2019 rate of 27.6 per cent to record 36.5 per cent in August 2019.  The producer inflation for manufacturing which constitutes more than two thirds of total industry increased by 0.4 percentage points to record 5.8 per cent.  The utilities sub-sector recorded the same inflation rate of 6.9 per cent as the rate for July 2019,” Mrs Forson stated.

She said mining and quarrying sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year producer price inflation rate (36.5 per cent), followed by the utilities sub-sector with 6.9 per cent, while the manufacturing sub-sector recorded the lowest year-on-year producer inflation rate of 5.8 per cent.

Tanning and dressing of leather (0.0), manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus (0.1 per cent), manufacture of wood and products of wood and cork (0.1 per cent), publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media (1.7 per cent) under manufacturing sub-sector recorded producer price inflation below the sector average of 5.8 per cent.

 Manufacture of textiles (2.1 percent), manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products (3.1 per cent), manufacture of rubber and plastic products (3.9 per cent), manufacture of paper and paper products (4.4), manufacture of chemical and chemical products (5.7 per cent) under manufacturing also recorded producer price inflation below the manufacturing sector average.

“With respect to the monthly changes, mining and quarrying recorded the highest inflation rate of 5.5 per cent, followed by manufacturing sub-sector with 0.6 per cent.  The utilities sub-sector recorded no inflation rate,” the Acting Deputy Government Statistician said.

Highlighting on the Petroleum Price Index, Mrs Forson said the sector in August recorded an inflation rate of 3.1 per cent, from 2.1 in July 2019.

She said the inflation rate for the petroleum sector in the same period last year was 41.6 per cent.

By Kingsley Asare

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