August consumer inflation falls to 17.3 percent

Ghana's annual consumer price inflation fell to 17.3 percent in August from 17.9 percent the previous month due to a rise in the cedi currency, the statistics office said on Wednesday. The figure reflects fiscal problems facing the country, which is following a three-year aid programme with the International Monetary Fund aimed at restoring economic stability and improving growth.

"We had a decline in the inflation rate for the non-food group and this was mainly driven by the gains made by the cedi as we saw between July and August," said government statistician Philomena Nyarko at a news conference.

Ghana had one of Africa's fastest-growing economies based on exports of gold, cocoa and oil but GDP growth has slumped since 2014 due to lower global commodity prices and a fiscal crisis that has seen its debt-to-GDP ratio rise to nearly 70 percent.

The food inflation rate stood at 7.7 percent in August from the previous month, while non-food 23.4 percent in August compared to 24.6 percent in July, she said.

This year, the cedi currency has fallen around 23.5 percent, though it has recently rallied, according to Thomson Reuters data, and the government is also attempting to bring down a stubbornly high budget deficit.