The Brief: Ghana’s inflation decelerates to 25% in April 2024

The Event

In April 2024, Ghana’s headline annual inflation rate declined to 25.0% due to base effects and lower food inflation. This is a steep decline from 41.2% in April 2023 amid easing price pressures. Additionally, the food and non-alcoholic beverages sub-index decreased compared to March 2024 as cereals, fish, and other seafood prices dropped due to ample supply. 

However, the non-food basket—constituting services like health, transportation, utilities and accommodation—rose for the second consecutive month, signalling rapidly rising service prices. The utilities sub-index, including fuels, surged from 24.9% to  28.1% due to the exchange rate depreciation, hiking import costs and prices. Petrol prices increased 7.8% between March and April, leading to higher transport costs for individuals and business logistics. Heightened business operating costs lead to service price-induced inflation, foretelling a possible slowdown in output as sectoral productivity weakens. 

Contrastingly, the monthly inflation rate in Ghana rose by one percentage point to 1.8%