The Producer Price Inflation (PPI) which measures the average change in the prices received by domestic producers for the production of their goods and services over time, went up by 1.3 percentage points to 6.7 per cent in March.
According to figures by the Ghana Statistical Service, the month-on-month change in producer price index between February 2019 and March 2019 was 0.9 per cent.
Importantly, the PPI in the Mining and Quarrying sub-sector increased by 2.6 percentage points over the February 2019 rate of 13.3 per cent to record 15.9 per cent in March 2019.
The producer inflation for Manufacturing which constitutes more than two-thirds of total industry however increased by 1.1 percentage points to record 6.1 per cent. The utilities sub-sector recorded inflation rate of 0.9 per cent compared to a 0.1 per cent inflation rate recorded in February 2019.
During the month of March 2019, five out of the 16 major groups in the manufacturing subsector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 6.1 per cent. Manufacture of basic metals recorded the highest inflation rate of 17.0 per cent, while tanning and dressing of leather and Manufacture of machinery and equipment recorded inflation of 0.0 percent. Marginal increase on price of power increased the PPI in the utilities sub sector.
In contrast, the producer inflation rate in the petroleum subsector was 15.9 per cent in March 2018. Subsequently it increased to 44.2 per cent in June 2018, but decreased to 31.1 per cent in September 2018. It however, resumed an upward trend to record 36.1 per cent in October 2018. The rate then declined consistently to record 3.8 per cent in January 2019, but increased consistently to record 13.0 per cent in March 2019.
Trends
The producer price inflation rate for all industry was 3.7 per cent in March 2018. Subsequently, it increased continuously to record 8.2 per cent in July 2018, but declined to 5.8 per cent in September 2018. In October 2018, the rate increased to 7.2 per cent but declined continuously to record 3.4 per cent in January 2019. Since then the rate resumed the upward trend to record 6.7 per cent in March 2019.
The Finder