Producer price inflation rose to 25.9% in June, up from 23.4% in May according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) release by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). This means that producers saw an average increase of 25.9% in the prices of their output compared to June 2023. On a monthly basis, the producer price inflation was up 2.7%.

The Industry sector led the way with inflation of 33.3%, followed by Construction with 29.4%, and Services with 12.2%. In the sub-sectors Mining and Quarrying saw the highest inflation with 45.5%, followed by Accommodation and Food Services Activities (28%), and Transportation and Storage (24.1%). The lowest inflation was recorded in Waste Supply, Sewerage, and Waste Management (2.6%), Information and Communication (9.2%), and Electricity and Gas (11.4%).

Producer prices sometime can be a leading indicator of consumer prices as an increased cost of production can eventually reflect in prices consumers pay in the market. Consumer inflation fell to 22.8% in June from 23.1% in May but the persistent weakness of the Ghana cedi as well as a recent hike in fuel prices could discourage the Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Police Committee (MPC) from reducing the policy rate from the current 29%.