Ghana’s inflation rate eased for the second consecutive month in February 2025, declining slightly to 23.1% from 23.5% in January. However, food inflation remains stubbornly high at 28.1%, continuing to put pressure on household budgets, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the Ghana Statistical Service. Month-on-month inflation also declined, dropping from 1.7% in January to 1.3% in February, marking the third consecutive monthly decrease.

Speaking at the release of the inflation data, Government Statistician Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim noted that despite the marginal drop, inflation remains relatively high.

“Although we have recorded a slight decline in the year-on-year inflation rate from 23.5% in January to 23.1% in February, it is important to note that this is still the third-highest rate recorded in the past ten months,” he stated.

The latest data shows that food prices continue to rise faster than non-food inflation. Food inflation stood at 28.1% in February, while non-food inflation fell to 18.8% from 19.2% in January, maintaining a significant gap of 9.3 percentage points.

“While food inflation has seen a marginal 0.2 percentage point drop from January’s 28.3%, it remains higher than the rates recorded since June 2024,” Prof. Annim noted.

Among food items, vegetables, tubers, and plantains remained the dominant drivers of inflation, recording a year-on-year price increase of 45.5%. On a month-on-month basis, fish and other seafood saw the highest price rise at 4.7%, followed by oils and fats at 3.8%. Food inflation on a month-on-month basis stood at 1.8%, marking a slowdown for the fourth consecutive month, while non-food inflation was recorded at 0.9%. Locally produced goods recorded a higher inflation rate of 25.1% compared to imported items, which stood at 18.5%.

The Ghana Statistical Service attributed the 23.1% inflation rate mainly to the food and non-alcoholic beverages division.

“For the third consecutive month, food inflation has contributed more than 50% to overall inflation, with its contribution rising from 51.0% in December to 53.6% in February,” Prof. Annim explained.

Other major contributors to inflation included housing, utilities, transport, and clothing.

“These four divisions—food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, transport, and clothing—contributed 80% of the 23.1% inflation recorded for February 2025,” he stated.

While the downward trend in inflation provides some relief, persistently high food prices remain a major challenge. Last week, treasury bill rates fell below the inflation rate for the first time in months, and market watchers will be keenly observing Friday’s auction to gauge investor sentiment. Additionally, attention will turn to the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is set to meet at the end of the month to decide the policy rate direction.

Meanwhile, the government is expected to formally communicate its end-of-year inflation target at the upcoming budget reading on Tuesday, March 11.