Ghana producer inflation rises to 9.8pc in October

ACCRA: Ghana's producer price inflation rose to 9.8 percent year-on-year in October from 9.7 percent the month before, mainly because of rising petroleum price, the statistics office said on Wednesday.

Producer prices are a major component of consumer inflation, which for years has exceeded government targets. The West African country is half-way through a three-year deal with the International Monetary Fund aimed at restoring fiscal balance.

"The marginal uptick in the index was mainly driven by increases in the price of petroleum and chemical products," deputy government statistician Baah Wadieh told reporters in Accra.

Year-on-year producer inflation for utilities remained unchanged at 38.2 percent in October compared with the previous month. Mining and quarrying dipped to 14.7 percent from 22.2 percent. The manufacturing subsector rose to 3.0 percent from 1.3 percent, Wadieh said.

The monthly change for October was -0.4 percent.

The central bank on Monday cut its benchmark lending rate, seeing less chance inflation would rise and a need to spur growth. Inflation stood at 15.8 percent in October, down from 17.2 percent the previous month.