Ghana’s inflation rate hits 23.6% in April, highest in 18 years

Ghana’s inflation rate reached 23.6% in April from 19.4% in March. The new record depicts its highest since January 2004.

This was revealed by Samuel Kobina Annim, Government Statistician for Ghana who stated that imported items surpassed locally produced items for the first time in 29 months.

War in Ukraine and a ban on palm oil export by Indonesia led to higher costs of imported goods such as cooking oil and gasoline and reflected in the headline inflation that surpassed the central bank’s target band of 6% to 10% for the country.

Meanwhile, the central government of Ghana had been trying to control the persisting surge in prices and boost the economy by cutting spending.

During the month of April, prices jumped 5.8% as food price growth reached 26.6% year-on-year from 22.4% in March while non-food inflation accelerated to 21.3% in April from 17% the previous month.

Back story

• Nairametrics had earlier reported that Ghana’s inflation hit 19.4%, the highest in 10 years in the last month of the first quarter.
• The March figures came after the country’s central bank raised the interest rate in anticipation of inflation which analysts say threatens to dive one of West Africa’s largest economies into crisis.
• Similarly, the government announced a package of spending cuts in its bid to reduce its budget deficit and prop up the local currency whilst also announcing a reduction of salaries of appointees by between 20% and 30%.