ACCRA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The year-on-year inflation rate in Ghana slowed to 7.8 percent in January, compared with the 7.9 percent recorded last December, with the Ghana Statistical Service attributing the situation to a stable exchange rate regime.
The monthly change rate was 1.4 percent, the data indicated, sectors with the highest inflation rates included alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics groups, as well as transportation, housing, water, and gas groups.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded an inflation rate of 7.8 percent, and the non-food inflation rate was 7.9 percent, said the data.
The data also showed that the inflation rate of locally manufactured items also grew faster than the inflation rate for imported items over the past three months.
The inflation rate for locally produced items in January was 8.7 percent compared with 5.8 percent for imported items. Last December, local products recorded an inflation rate of 8.7 percent, compared with 6.1 percent for imported items.
"The exchange rate stability witnessed since last November has become a key driving factor in inflation out-turn over the past three months," said Government statistician Samuel Kobina Annim.
Consumer inflation is a critical factor in determining lending rates, the cost of doing business, and invariably, the cost of living in Ghana.
