Inflation for the month of May 2024 slightly decreased to 23.1%. This is the lowest figure recorded since March 2022 which was 19.4%.

The figure for May 2024 represents a decline of 1.95 percentage points from that of the month of April which was at 25.0% .

Addressing journalists at a press briefing, Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim announced that transportation recorded a month-on-month inflation of 10.5%.

He called on government to find solutions to the surge in the month-on-month figures recorded for transportation.

“In this case what I want the media and policymakers to engage is not food inflation but in this case, transport where we are seeing month-on-month transport inflation of 10.5% when overall month-on-month is 3.2% and we all do appreciate how transport permits across the other items that we have in the basket for the competition.

He stated that it is time to pay attention to factors driving inflation to go up in the transportation sector to mitigate its impact on the public.

“So the conversation that I really wish will be on the table going forward is how do we ensure that the consistent but slow increases in prices of food at other points would slow down and possibly see reduction going forward.”

According to the data released by the Ghana Statistical Service, food inflation declined by 4.2% to 22.6% while non-food inflation increased to 23.6%.

Seven divisions recorded inflation rates higher than the national average

Once again seven divisions recorded inflation rates higher than the national average.

They are Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics (34.2%); Restaurants and Accommodation Services (31.6%); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (26.9%); Health (26.5%); Education Services (25.2%); Personal Care, Social Protection and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (324.3%); Recreation, Sports and Culture (24.1%).

Vegetables, tubers and plantains recorded the highest contribution of 3.6% percentage points to the food inflation's 22.6%.

This was followed by ready-made food and fish and other sea food being the next food sub-classes with the highest contribution to food inflation.

The Upper East region recorded highest regional inflation rate at 35.6%. This represents more than 3 times that of the Oti region (the region with the lowest Inflation) with 10.3% inflation for the month of May 2024.