Three sub-sectors; mining and quarry, manufacturer of petroleum products and manufacture of food products and beverages, in the month October, drove the producer price to 7.2 percent from 5.8 percent in September, representing 1.4 percentage points increase.
This is according to the latest data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The Producer Price Index (PPI) measures the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers for the production of their goods and services.
The producer price inflation in the Mining and Quarrying sub-sector increased by 4.0 percentage points over the September 2018 rate of 0.4 percent to record 4.4 percent in October 2018.
At a press briefing on Wednesday in Accra, the Acting Government Statistician, Baah Wadieh observed that there were some increases in the prices of golds in September and October, as well as some level of depreciation in the value in the cedi.
“For gold which is exported, once the index goes up, which is an indicative of the increase in the general price level for that sub-sector. It means that those that are dealing in gold would be earning more,” Wadieh noted.
Manufacturing sector
The producer inflation for Manufacturing which constitutes more than two-thirds of total industry increased by 1.2 percentage points to record 9.7 percent.
“Increase was primarily due to increase in the prices of the manufacture of petroleum products in September which affected the rates of October 2018, resulting in the upwards inflation that was recorded for petroleum for the month October 2018,” Wadieh explained
During the month of October 2018, three out of the sixteen major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 9.7 percent. Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel recorded the highest inflation rate of 36.1 percent, while Manufacture of machinery and equipment recorded no change in inflation rate
Utilities
The utilities sub-sector recorded inflation rate of -0.1 percent in October 2018, indicating an increase of 0.1 percentage point over the September 2018 rate.
By Joshua W. Amlanu
