Ghana’s consumer inflation rate has continued to rise, reaching 23.8 percent in December 2024, marking the fourth consecutive month of increase.
Gatekeepers News reports that Samuel Kobina Annim, the government statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), shared this information with reporters in Accra on Wednesday.
The upward trend in inflation began in September of the previous year, when it was recorded at 21.5 percent. This figure increased to 22.1 percent in October and further climbed to 23 percent in November. Annim noted that the inflation rate at the end of December represented the highest level seen in the past eight months.
“The rate of inflation… is the third highest in the last 13 months and highest in the last eight months,” Annim said.
Food inflation has also experienced a notable rise, escalating from 25.9 percent in November to 27.8 percent in December. Annim pointed out that specific food items, such as yams, contributed significantly to this increase, with year-on-year price hikes reaching 63.3 percent.
To effectively address the inflation challenges, Annim emphasized the necessity of a dual approach that tackles both monetary policies and real-sector issues.
“We do emphasise that there are two perspectives in addressing inflation. One is the monetary side… and the other is the real side, with what we’ve seen with food inflation, more particularly the food that we consume, that are locally produced,” he added.
Annim urged policymakers to focus on production, value chains, transportation, warehousing, and reducing post-harvest losses to stabilise food prices.
“Policymakers put in diverse interventions, rather than focusing on, let’s say, only exchange rate or focusing on just some selected items that do not cover the variety of food items that influence food prices,” he said.
