Ghana’s annual inflation rate rose to 22.1 percent in October, marking a 0.6 percentage point increase from 21.5 percent in September, the Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) reported on Wednesday.
“Non-food inflation was the main driver of the higher inflation rate in October 2024 due to its higher weight in the inflation basket,” Samuel Kobina Annim, a government statistician at the GSS, said during a monthly briefing.
Food inflation climbed by 0.7 percentage points to 22.8 percent in October, while non-food inflation rose by 0.6 percentage points to 21.5 percent.
Annim noted that October’s inflation rate was the highest since July 2024, when the rate reached 20.9 percent, adding that the inflation rate for locally produced items stood at 24.6 percent, while imported items recorded an inflation rate of 16.3 percent.
Rising inflation remains a key factor in Ghana’s economic crisis, which led the government to secure a 3-billion-U.S.-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund in May 2023 to support economic reforms.
In September, the Bank of Ghana announced a 200 basis-point cut in the benchmark policy rate to 27 percent, down from 29 percent in January, as inflation eased over five consecutive months since April.