Alcohol, tobacco, narcotics drive January inflation

Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics stood as the drivers of the January inflation rate which inched up slightly to 23.5 per cent as against the December 2023 rate of 23.2 per cent. 

The division of those items recorded an inflation rate of 38.5%.

This was followed by personal care, social protection and miscellaneous services (32%), restaurant and accommodation services (29.2%), furnishings, household equipment (27.7%), food and non-alcoholic (27.1%), health (26.6%), and recreation, sports and culture (25.9%).

The rest are clothing and footwear (22.8%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (22.6%), education services (19.8%), information and communication (13.6%); and insurance and financial services (8.6%).

The transport division recorded the lowest inflation rate of 5.6 per cent.

Overall inflation inched up in January 2024, after declining for five consecutive months, with the rate increasing slightly from 23.2 per cent in December 2023 to 23.5 per cent.

Regional inflation

At the regional level, the Eastern Region emerged as the region with the highest inflation, recording a rate of 37.1%, the Greater Accra Region recording the lowest rate of 14.4 per cent.

This was followed by Volta Region (35.8%), Western Region (34.9%), Upper West Region (34.8%), Northern Region (30.4%), North East Region (27.6%), Bono Region (26.7%), Upper West Region (26.5%), and Western North Region (25 %).

The Savannah Region and Ashanti Region both recorded inflation rates of 22.6%.

The rest are Central Region (22.3%), Bono East Region (22.1%), Ahafo Region (17%), Oti Region (15.6%) 

Food and non-food inflation

Food inflation dropped from 28.7 per cent in December 2023 to 27.1 per cent in January 2024, while non-food Inflation increased from 18.7 per cent to 20.5 per cent