The year-on-year inflation rate for March 2019 inches up to 9.3 per cent in March, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous rate of 9.2 per cent in February.

Mr David Yenukwa Kombat, the Acting Deputy Government Statistician, at a press briefing in Accra, said the monthly change in March was 1.2 per cent, compared to the 1.0 per cent recorded for February 2019.

He said the year-on-year non-food inflation was 9.7 per cent same as the rate recorded for February 2019.

The year-on-year food inflation rate is up to 8.4 per cent compared to the 8.1 per cent recorded in February 2019.

“The year-on-year non-food inflation rate (9.7 per cent) is 1.3 percentage points higher than the food inflation rate (8.4 per cent),” he stated.

He said the year-on-year inflation rate for imported items (11.1 per cent) was 2.6 percentage points higher than that of locally produced items (8.5 per cent).

Mr Kombat said the main “price drivers” for the non-food inflation rate were recreation and culture 14.1 per cent, Transport 13.7 per cent, clothing and footwear 13.3 per cent, and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance 12.2 per cent.

He said the “price drivers” for the food inflation rate were; coffee, tea and cocoa 13.0 per cent, mineral water, soft drinks, fruits and vegetables juices 11.1 per cent, fruits 10.2 per cent and meat as well as meat products 9.1 per cent.

Four regions Upper West, Brong Ahafo, Western and Ashanti recorded inflation rates above the national average and Volta region recorded the same inflation rate as the national average of 9.3 per cent, he stated.

The Upper West region he said, recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate of 11.4 per cent, followed by Brong Ahafo 10.2 per cent, while the Upper East region recorded the lowest year-on-year inflation rate of 7.9 per cent in March 2019.