Ghana’s annual consumer
price inflation dropped to 16.7 percent in July from 18.4 percent in June as
the cedi currency stabilised and food prices fell at the start of the harvest
season, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
The West African country has
enjoyed general price stability this year compared to last, when water tariffs
increased 15 percent and petroleum prices also increased significantly.
“The main reason why we are
seeing a drop in July is as a result of base drift and seasonality effects,
influenced by stability of the cedi and the beginning of good harvest,” Reuters
quoted government statistician Philomena Nyarko to have told a news conference
in Accra.
Nyarko said the inflation
rate in transport also fell last month compared with last year because fuel
prices were stable.
Year-on-year non-food
inflation for July was 21.2 percent, down from 24.1 percent in June, while food
inflation was unchanged at 8.6 percent, Nyarko said.
Ghana, which exports cocoa,
gold and oil, is implementing a three-year aid programme with the International
Monetary Fund to remedy fiscal problems including persistently above-target
inflation.
Analysts expect further
decline in inflation in the months ahead mainly due to a monetary tightening
stance held by the central bank, and supported by the harvest season.
“We should start to see a
faster deceleration in year-on-year inflation, allowing the Bank of Ghana to
begin an easing, perhaps as early as its September MPC meeting,” head of Africa
research at Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan said.
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