Ex-Factory Prices Inflation Drops To 3.7%

The year-on-year producer inflation for all industry was 3.7 percent in March 2018.

This represents a 1.8 percentage point decrease in producer inflation relative to the rate of 5.5% recorded in February 2018, and a monthly change rate of -0.3 percent.

Anthony Amuzu, deputy Government Statistician, who disclosed this to journalists yesterday in Accra, said the mining and quarrying sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year producer price inflation rate of 5.8 percent, followed by the manufacturing sub-sector with 4.2 percent.

He said the utilities sub-sector recorded the lowest year-on-year producer inflation of -0.6 percent.

With respect to the monthly changes, manufacturing recorded the highest inflation rate of -0.2 percent followed by utilities sub-sector with -0.5 percent.

Mining and quarrying sub-sector recorded the lowest rate with -0.6 percent.

The producer price inflation in the mining and Quarrying sub-sector decreased by 3.4 percentage points over the February 2018 rate of 9.2 percent to record 5.8 percent in March 2018.

The producer inflation for manufacturing which constitutes more than two-thirds of total industry decreased by 1.8 percentage point to record 4.2 percent.

The utilities sub-sector recorded inflation of -0.6 percent in March 2018, representing a decrease of 0.6 percentage point relative to the rate recorded in February 2018.

The producer inflation rate in the petroleum sub-sector was 5.3 percent in March 2017.

The rate declined to -1.2 percent in April 2017 and then to -4.5 percent in May 2017.

Subsequently, it increased consistently to record 36.9 percent in October 2017 but declined to 27.7 percent in November 2017.

The rate increased to 36.4 percent in December 2017 but declined consistently to record 15.9 percent in March 2018.

Source: Daily Guide