Inflation drops to 3.7 percent in September

Ghana's producer price inflation (PPI) fell to 3.7 percent in September from a revised 3.9 percent in August, continuing a downward trend, the statistics office said on Wednesday.

The reduction, after a sharp drop last month, is good news for the government which started an International Monetary Fund programme in April to stabilise an economy plagued by fiscal troubles and inflation persistently above target.

"The utilities sub-sector recorded the highest year-on-year producer price inflation of 7.2 percent, followed by the manufacturing sub-sector of 4.3 percent," government statistician Philomena Nyarko told a news conference. Mining stood at -2.1 percent.

Ghana's PPI has dropped from 47 percent since Sept 2014 driven by a fall in the prices of gold and petroleum products, Nyarko said.

Until 2013, Ghana had some of the strongest growth rates in Africa due to its exports of gold, oil and cocoa. A combination of lower global commodity prices and macro-economic instability have set it back.

Fitch ratings agency said recently that gross domestic product would grow 3 percent in 2015, below the average for sub-Saharan Africa.