North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has asked the Akufo-Addo administration to present an urgent economic rescue plan to address the cost of living situation in the country.

In his view, the mass excruciating suffering in Ghana is now unbearable.

“Did Prez Akufo-Addo lead ‘KUMEPREKO’ demonstrations against Prez Rawlings only to become President and create ‘SIEMEPREKO’ economic conditions? The mass excruciating suffering is now unbearable. Govt must present an urgent economic rescue plan to address the cost of living crisis,” he tweeted on Thursday May 12 in reaction to the increasing cost of goods and service as indicated in the latest inflation figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

According to the GSS, the national year-on-year inflation rate was 23.6% in April 2022, which is 4.2 percentage points higher than the 19.4% recorded in March 2022.

The month-on-month inflation between March 2022 and April 2022 was 5.1%, the GSS said on Wednesday May 12.

Four Divisions, Transport, Household equipment and Routine Maintenance, Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, recorded inflation rates above the national average of 23.6% with Transport, 33.5%, recording the highest inflation.

This month’s food inflation, 26.6%, is higher than both last month food inflation , 22.4% and the average of the previous 12 months 13.5%. Food inflation’s contribution to total inflation however, decreased from 51.4% in March 2022 to 50.0% in April 2022.

Overall month-on-month food inflation was 5.8%, which is higher than both the twelve month national month-on-month rolling average of food inflation (2.0%) and the rate recorded for April 2021 (2.3%). All the 15 food subclasses recorded positive month-on-month inflation (see figure 4) with Fruit and Vegetable Juices recording the highest (15.3%).

Non-food year-on-year inflation on average went up again in April 2022 compared to March 2022 (from 17.0% to 21.3%). Only one out of the 12 Non-food Divisions had the 12 months rolling average to be higher than the year-on-year inflation for April 2022 for the divisions.
Transport is the Division that recorded the highest inflation in April 2022 (33.5%).

At the regional level, the overall year-on-year inflation ranged from 18.4% in the Upper East Region to 26.7% in the Central Region (See Figure 3). Central Region again recorded the highest month-on-month inflation (8.8%). All regions recorded positive month-on-month
inflation rate in April 2022 (above 2.0%).