Ghana’s inflation hits 30-year high in November

The annual consumer inflation surged to 50.3 percent in November, the highest in more than three decades, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said on Wednesday.

Samuel Kobina Annim, the government statistician at the GSS, who announced the increase at a press briefing, attributed the rise in the inflation rate to the increasing prices of food and non-food items and exchange rate depreciation during the month under review.

Annim said the inflation rate for food increased to 55.3 percent in November from 43.7 percent in October, while non-food inflation surged to 46.5 percent during the month under review from 37.8 percent in October.

In the meantime, inflation stood at 48.3 percent for locally produced items and 55.1 percent for imported items.

On Nov. 28, the Bank of Ghana announced a 250 basis points increase in the benchmark policy rate to 27 percent to rein in inflation and arrest the fast depreciation of the local currency.

A visiting team of the International Monetary Fund announced on Tuesday a preliminary agreement to provide a three-year bailout package for the Ghanaian government to help the west African country revitalize its economy.

Source: newsghana.com.gh