The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has increased the number of items in the food basket to 307 from the previous figure 267.

This was revealed by the Ag. Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, at a press conference on Wednesday, 17 September 2019, to announce the inflation rate for August.

He said: “As part of GSS continuous commitment to improving on the quality of her products, the CPI has been rebased.

“The new series has 2018 as the reference period and it is an expanded basket over the previous one which had 2012 as the reference period. This adequately reflects the peoples’ purchasing habit.

“There are 307 items in the new basket compared with the 267 in the old basket. The points of data collection has also increased from 42 markets in the old basket to 44 markets in this new series.

“The new series has taken into account changes in consumption pattern over time. One major change in the new series is the adoption of COICOP 2018 for the re-classification of items in the basket.

“This resulted in some items moving across Divisions and Groups.”

He also said the inflation rate for August 2019 has dropped to 7.8 per cent.

The food and non-alcoholic beverages group, he said recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of (8.2) per cent; fruit and nuts (25.2) per cent; cereals and cereal products (10.6) per cent; sugar, confectionery and deserts (9.0) per cent; and ready-made food and other food products (8.3) per cent. They were the major drivers of the food inflation.

The non-food group recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of (7.4) per cent in August 2019, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics (12.9) per cent; transport (10.2) per cent; and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (9.9) per cent were the key drivers of the non-food inflation in August.

At the regional level, the year-on-year inflation rate ranged from 3.9 per cent for the Eastern Region to 12.4 per cent for the Greater Accra Region. Four regions (Greater Accra, Upper West, Central and Volta) recorded inflation rates above the national average (7.8) per cent. The Eastern Region recorded the least inflation rate of 3.9 per cent.