Inflation for May 2024 has dropped significantly to 23.1%, down from 25.0% in April 2024, representing a 1.9 percentage point decrease between April and May 2024.

According to the Ghana Statistical Service, food inflation contributed to the overall drop in the rate of inflation, recording a rate of 22.6% compared to 26.8% last month.

However, non-food inflation increased slightly to 23.6% in May 2024, up from 23.5% in April 2024. Additionally, inflation for locally produced items and imported items fell to 24.7% and 19.6%, respectively.

Speaking to journalists in Accra, Government Statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim urged policymakers to focus on transportation, which recorded a month-on-month inflation of 10.5%, rather than on food inflation as a primary driver of inflation.

“In this case, what I want the media and policymakers to engage with is not food inflation but transport, where we are seeing month-on-month transport inflation of 10.5% when overall month-on-month inflation is 3.2%. We all appreciate how transport affects the other items in the basket for competition," Professor Annim stated.

He emphasized the need for a conversation on ensuring that the consistent but slow increases in food prices would slow down and potentially decrease going forward.