Inflation from the producer’s perspective for the month of December 2015 was 10.5 per cent.
However, the month-on-month change in Producer Price Index (PPI) between November and December 2015 was 6.2 per cent.
The PPI measures the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers for the production of their goods and services.
The Government Statistician, Dr Philomena Nyarko, announced this at a news conference in Accra yesterday.
She attributed the increase to the hike in utility tariffs, manufacturing, mining and quarrying sub-sectors of the economy.
The monthly changes in the PPI indicated that the utilities recorded the highest inflation rate of 48.8 per cent, followed by the manufacturing sub-sector with -0.3 per cent, while the mining and quarrying sub-sectors recorded the lowest rate of -1.4 per cent.
The producer price inflation in the mining and quarrying sub-sector decreased by 2.5 percentage points over the November 2015 rate of 7.3 per cent to record 4.8 per cent in December 2015.
Manufacturing, which constitutes more than two-thirds of total industry, increased by 1.8 percentage points to reach 3.5 per cent.
Dr. Nyarko said the utilities sub-sector recorded an inflation rate of 56.6 per cent in December 2015, indicating a substantial increase of 51.3 percentage points over the November 2015 rate of 5.3 per cent.
Petroleum price index
The inflation rate in the petroleum sub-sector was 30.9 per cent in December 2014 but declined consistently to record -9.6 per cent in May 2015 due to a combined base drift effect and the decrease in ex-refinery prices of petroleum products.
She indicated that in August 2015, the rate increased to -28.0 per cent as a result of decreases in the prices of petroleum products and further decreased to -34.5 per cent in October 2015. It, however, inched up slightly in November 2015 to record -33.6 per cent and further improved to -21.8 per cent.
Manufacturing sector
Dr. Nyarko also stated that during December 2015, 12 out of the 16 major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector inflation rates were higher than the sector average of 3.5 per cent.
Manufacturing of paper and paper products recorded the highest inflation rate of 71.2 per cent, while the manufacture of coke, refined petroleum and nuclear fuel recorded the lowest producer price inflation rate of -21.8 per cent.
Source: Graphic