Ghana’s prolonged period of disinflation may be losing momentum, with headline inflation rising for the second month in a row to 3.7% in May 2026. According to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service on June 3, inflation ticked up by 0.3 percentage points from April’s 3.4%.
Every month, price growth also edged higher to 1.1%, compared to 1.0% in the previous month, hinting at a gradual but persistent build-up in price pressures. The consecutive increases mark a notable shift after a stretch of steady disinflation, though the current inflation level is still well below the 18.4% seen in May 2025.
Driving this renewed upward movement is a surge in food prices. Inflation for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages jumped to 3.3% in May from 2.2% in April. Food inflation every month nearly doubled, rising to 2.0% from 0.8%, pointing to fresh strains on household budgets.
In contrast, non-food inflation eased slightly to 4.1% from 4.2%, suggesting that while overall inflation remains contained, food has become the main engine behind the latest increases.
Locally produced items continued to exert the greatest inflationary pressure, with an annual rate of 5.0%, up from 4.7% in April, and accounting for more than 92% of the overall inflation outcome. Imported inflation also inched up but remained muted at 0.9%.
Breaking it down by classification, services saw the highest inflation rate at 9.9%, compared to just 1.4% for goods, reflecting persistent price pressures in service-related costs.
Regionally, the North East Region recorded the highest inflation rate at 10.1%, while the Savannah Region experienced deflation at -3.0%.
Despite the recent uptick, the Ghana Statistical Service emphasized that inflation has dropped sharply from 18.4% in May 2025 to 3.7% in May 2026, signaling a broad improvement in macroeconomic stability. However, the agency cautioned that the emerging pressure from food prices now warrants closer monitoring.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com