The Producer Price Inflation (PPI) rate for January 2015 decreased to 23.5 per cent, as compared to 34.2 per cent recorded in December 2015, the Deputy Government Statistician, Mr Baah Wadieh, said on Wednesday.

The PPI measures the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers for the production of goods and services.

Mr Wadieh said the producer price inflation in the mining and quarrying sub-sector recorded 36.4 per cent in January, a decrease of 6.9 percentage points over the 43.3 per cent registered in December 2014.

He said manufacturing, which constituted more than two-thirds of total industry, also decreased by 10.5 per cent points to record 22.6 per cent while the utilities sub-sector recorded an inflation rate of 15.8 per cent in January 2015.

Mr Wadieh said during January 2015, nine out of the sixteen major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 22.6 per cent.

He said the inflation rate in the petroleum sub-sector increased to 56.1 per cent in February but declined in March to record 44.7 per cent.

Mr Wadieh said the monthly changes in the producer price index indicated that mining and quarrying recorded inflation rate of 4.2 per cent while utilities recorded no change.