Ghana’s year-on-year Producer Price Inflation Rate (PPI) for all industry has increased marginally by 0.3 percentage points from 19.2 per cent in March 2015 to 19.5 per cent in April 2015.

This is attributed to the increase in inflation rates in the mining and quarrying and utilities sub-sectors.

Dr Philomena Nyarko, Government Statistician, who released the Producer Price Index for April, said the month-on-month change between March and April was 2.8 per cent.

She said the mining and quarrying sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year producer price inflation rate of 27.1 per cent, followed by the utilities sub-sector with 20.7 per cent, while the manufacturing sector recorded the lowest rate of 17.0 per cent.

“The monthly changes in the Producer Price Index indicate that mining and quarrying recorded the highest inflation of 7.5 per cent, followed by the utilities sub-sector with 4.5 per cent.

“The manufacturing sector recorded the lowest inflation rate of 1.0 per cent,” she said.

Dr Nyarko said the year-on-year inflation in ex-factory prices of goods and services began an upward trend from April 2014 and increased consistently over five months to record 48.6 per cent in August 2014.

However, from then on, the rate steadily declined to 19.2 per cent in March 2015 and has inched up to 19.5 per cent in April, 2015.

She said the increase was mainly due to increases in the price of gold and the decline in the value of the cedi adding, that the inflation rates could be stabilised if these factors remain stable.

In the mining and quarrying sub-sector, the PPI in April 2015 increased by 4.2 percentage points over the March 2015 rate of 23.0 per cent to 27.1 per cent and utilities recorded a rate of 20.7 per cent in the period, an increase of 4.9 percentage points over the March 2015 rate of 15.8 per cent.

Manufacturing, which constitutes more than two-thirds of the total industry, decreased by 2.3 percentage points to record 17.0 per cent; 11 out of the 16 major groups in the sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 19.5 per cent.

Dr Nyarko said the publishing, printing and reproduction of media recording recorded the highest rate of 56.0 per cent and refined petroleum products saw the lowest rate of -9.6 per cent.

She said the continued decline in inflation rates in the petroleum sub-sector from 61.1 per cent in November 2014 to -9.6 in April 2015 was the result of Base Drift Effect and the decrease in ex-refinery prices of petroleum products.