APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report of the latest Consumer Price Inflation, which shows a notable slowdown in the inflation rate by 3.2 percentage points is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, presented the latest Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) data today in Accra, revealing a notable slowdown in the inflation rate by 3.2 percentage points.
Inflation decreased to 23.2 per cent in December 2023, down from 26.4 per cent in November 2023. The year-on-year inflation drop marks the fifth consecutive month of decline.
Key highlights from Professor Annim’s presentation include a month-on-month inflation of 1.2 per cent, signalling a 0.3 percentage points downward shift between November and December 2023. Notably, the year-on-year difference between Food inflation (28.7%) and Non-food (18.7%) stands at 10.0 percentage points.
The report details a 3.5 percentage points reduction in Year-on-Year Food Inflation between November and December 2023, with Non-food inflation decreasing by 3.0 percentage points during the same period. Interestingly, Month-on-Month food inflation (1.3%) was slightly higher than non-food inflation (1.0%) in December 2023.
Inflation for locally produced items (23.8%) exceeded that of imported items (21.9%) by 1.9 percentage points. Notably, the steep drop in food inflation observed in November 2023 slowed down to a 3.5 percentage point decrease in December 2023. Non-food inflation also continued its slowdown for the fifth consecutive month, reaching 18.7 per cent.
An analysis of divisions reveals that six recorded inflation rates higher than the national average (23.2%), led by Alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics (38.2%). In contrast, Transport (4.4%) recorded the lowest rate of inflation.
The newspaper says that the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it was “optimistic” that Ghana and its official bilateral creditors would reach a debt restructuring deal soon, paving the way for another $600 million IMF loan payment to the country.
Discussions between Ghanaian authorities and the Official Creditor Committee, co-chaired by China and France, are showing “promising progress”, the IMF’s Resident Representative for Ghana, Leandro Medina, said.
“We are optimistic that an agreement will be reached soon, allowing to swiftly present the first ECF (Extended Credit Facility) programme review to our Executive Board,” he said via email.
The West African nation defaulted on most of its external debt in December 2022 and needs to secure restructuring deals with official creditors, international bondholders and other commercial lenders, to successfully implement the IMF loan deal and emerge from its worst economic crisis in a generation.
Ghana’s sovereign international dollar bonds rose on Tuesday, after a report that its government expected to receive soon a draft term sheet from its official creditors to restructure $4.5 billion of debt.
The draft term sheet would pave the way for the IMF Executive Board to approve the disbursement of $600 million under its $3 billion bailout programme, Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told Bloomberg News.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the flagbearer of the opposi¬tion National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the December 7, 2024 general election, John Dramani Mahama, has reiterated his resolve to continue with the pro¬cesses towards reviewing the 1992 Constitu¬tion if elected president at the pending polls.
“As leader of the National Democratic Congress, I wish to reiterate my commitment to continue the various processes towards implementing the white paper (on the constitutional review) if elected President in December 2024, focusing on strengthening governance institutions, protecting citizens’ rights, and fighting corruption.
“The reforms will aim to reduce the influ¬ence of an overreaching executive, put an end to the creeping politicisation of state institu¬tions, reduce excessive spending on Article 71 officeholders to bridge the unacceptable disparity between them and other categories of workers and strengthen the fundamental rights of all citizens,” Mr Mahama said.
This assurance was contained in a state¬ment former President Mahama issued in Accra on Sunday, to commemorate Ghana’s Constitution Day; a day set aside in recogni¬tion of the fourth republic.
The constitutional review process which commenced under the presidency of the late John Evans Atta Mills in 2010 was hit with a lawsuit by US-based Ghanaian lawyer, Prof. Stephen Kwaku Asare in 2014; arguing that the Review Commission had usurped the powers of Parliament in its work.
The suit was, however, dismissed by the Supreme Court in a 5-2 majority decision in 2015 shooting down Prof. Asare’s prayer for an order directing the then President, John Mahama and state agencies to permanently cease and desist from proceeding with the review process.
The newspaper says that the National Com¬mission for Civic Education (NCCE) has expressed concern over the culture of moneti¬sation of politics in the country as the 2024 general elections draws close.
According to it, the impunity which comes along with the prac¬tice posed a “threat to the nation and our well-being as individual citizens.”
At a news conference in Accra on Monday to commemorate Constitution Day, the Chairperson, Ms Kathleen Addy, blamed the sit¬uation not only on politicians but the citizenry, recounting many of such incidences in various elections last year.
“We are guilty of making ex¬treme financial demands on those who offer themselves for public office and then we get angry and disappointed when they are unable to deliver the public goods we expect.
“We are at a point where a major criteria for getting elected into public office is the candidates’ ability to dole out cash to voters. It is time to own up to this terrible practice and commit to ending it. If we don’t end it, it will end us,” she said.
The chairperson expressed fear that the perpetuation of monetisation in politics not only undermined Ghana’s democracy, implored citizens to also reject politicians that seek to entice or engage them in acts of violence as the elections draw near.
“2024 is an opportunity to affirm our political maturity and will be a test case on our level of political and religious tolerance and respect for ethnic and cultural diversity,” she added.
GIK/APA
Ghana: Press focuses on further decline of inflation rate, others
