Inflation ended the year 2019 at a rate of 7.9%, according to figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service on Wednesday, 8 January 2019.

This is 0.3 percentage points lower than the 8.2% registered in November 2019, but fell within the Bank of Ghana’s forecast of 8%+/-2.

The reduction in the year-on-year inflation rate was due to a decrease in the price levels of vegetables and fish.

Month-on-month inflation between November 2019 and December 2019 was 0.3%.

According to the figures, food inflation registered an inflation rate of 7.2% in December 2019. It was 1.2% lower than the previous month’s.

Non-food inflation was, however, 8.5%, up from the 8.0% recorded in November 2019.

Alcoholic beverages, tobacco & narcotics (13.5%), transport (11.0%), and housing (10.5%) were the divisions with the highest rates of inflation.

Inflation for imported goods was, however, 6.1%, while the inflation of local goods was 8.7% on average. This is the highest rate for local inflation and the lowest rate of inflation for imported goods since August 2019.

The Ashanti Region recorded the lowest year-on-year inflation rate of 5.0 per cent while the Greater Accra Region recorded the highest rate of inflation of 12.0% (basically due to the Christmas festivity).