Up from 11.5% in August 2013, the year-on-year inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 11.9% in August 2013, while the monthly change rate for September 2013 was -0.7%, the same as recorded in August 2013.
Deputy Government Statistician, Baah Wadieh, who made this known at a news conference in Accra, yesterday, disclosed that the Food and non-alcoholic beverages group recorded an average year-on-year inflation rate of 8.9% which is 1.0 percentage points higher than the 7.9 % recorded in August 2013, while three sub-groups within the Food and non-alcoholic beverages group recorded inflation rates above the group’s average of 8.9%.
The non-food group, Mr Wadieh said, recorded an average year-on-year inflation rate of 14.2% in September 2013, the same as recorded in August 2013 with four sub-groups recording year-on-year inflation rates above the group’s average rate.
The four groups, he said, were Transport which recorded the highest rate of 27.7%, miscellaneous goods which recorded 16.3%, with Clothing and footwear registering 15.9% while Furnishing, Household equipment and routine maintenance recorded 15.1%.
Inflation, Mr Wadieh said, was lowest in the Communications group which recorded 1.5%.
On regional differentials, she said, the year-on-year inflation rate ranged from 6.4% in the Upper East region to 15.5% in the Western region, with four regions— Western, Greater Accra, Central and Northern— recording inflation rate above the national average of 11.9%.
The CPI measures the change over time in the general price levels of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption, with reference to the price level in in 2012, the base year, which has an index of 100.
To that effect, the rate of inflation for September 2013 is the percentage change in the CPI over the twelve-month period from September 2012 to September 2013.