Inflation dropped marginally to 9.9% in January 2021, from 10.4% recorded in December 2020.

This means that the average change in the price of goods and services was slightly low compared to December last year.

However, prices of some foodstuffs were relatively high as food inflation was 5.1 percent higher than non-food inflation.

It is coming at a time when yield on Treasury bills has been falling albeit marginally.

Food inflation (12.8%) came down compared to last month (14.1%), but is still slightly above the average over the last 12 months (12.3%). Overall month-on-month Food inflation was 1.2% (0.3 percentage point lower than last month, but higher than the average over the last 12 months)

Within the Food Division, Vegetables (20.3%) was the Subclass with the highest rate of inflation, which is lower than that of last month (24.2%).

Non-Food year-on-year inflation on average was the same as last month (7.7%), which is below the 2020 average (8.5%).

Out of the 13 Divisions, five had higher year-on-year inflation in January 2021 than the rolling average over the last 12 months.

The biggest difference between the average and the current month were recorded for Housing (2.1 percentage points) and Education services (-4.1 percentage points).

The inflation of imported goods was 6.1% same as last month, while the inflation of local goods was 11.3% on average (down from 12.1% last month). Month-on-month inflation for imported goods was 0.7% and for locally produced goods 1.0%.

Regional inflation

Greater Accra region recorded the highest inflation rate of 15.1%.

However, Ashanti region recorded higher month-on-month inflation for 12 Divisions in January compared to the 12-month average. Greater Accra recorded the lower inflation for 11 out of 13.

The Upper West region recorded the least inflation rate of 1.9%. Only in the Upper West Region (-0.6% Food inflation and 4.5% Non-Food inflation), did Food outpace Non-Food inflation.

The largest difference in Food and Non-Food inflation was recorded in Eastern Region (12.8% and 2.6% respectively).

Overall, year-on-year inflation came down in six regions compared to last month, with the biggest decrease in Central Region (-1.8 percentage points) and the largest increase in Ashanti Region (0.9 percentage points).