October Inflation Hits 16.9 Percent

Inflation for the month of October hit 16.9 percent, up by 0.4 percent from 16.5 percent recorded in September this year. This is the highest rate since March 2010. According to the latest figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, recorded the highest rate of 36.0 percent followed by transport with 30.6 percent. The lowest inflation was recorded in the education subgroup, 9.0%. At the regional level, Upper East Region recorded the highest regional year-on-year inflation rate of 19.7 percent while the Upper West Region recorded the lowest, 13.4 percent. Five other regions, Central, Northern, Eastern, Ashanti and Western recorded inflation rates above the national average of 16.9 percent. The food and non-alcoholic beverages group recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 6.5 percent. This is 0.7 percentage points higher than the 5.8 percent recorded in September. However, there was a decrease in the non-food group. It recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 24 percent in October 2014, compared to the 24.1 percent recorded in September 2014.