The rise in Ghana’s Consumer Price Inflation rate to 27.6% year-on-year in May from 23.6% in April hitting a new 18-year high is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana’s Consumer Price Inflation accelerated to 27.6% year-on-year in May from 23.6% in April hitting a new 18-year high, the Statistical Service said on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
This means that in the month of May 2022, the general price level was 27.6% higher than in May 2021 and more than double the government’s targeted band of 6% to 10%.
The Ghana Statistical Service figures also indicated that month-on-month inflation between April 2022 and May 2022 was 4.1%.
The data also indicated that food inflation was up 30.1% from 26.6% last month and month-on-month food inflation was 4.0%. Per the data oils and fats, water, cereal products and fruit and vegetable juices have seen the largest increases in prices this year.
The data also indicated that food inflation was up 30.1% from 26.6% last month and month-on-month food inflation was 4.0%. Per the data oils and fats, water, cereal products and fruit and vegetable juices have seen the largest increases in prices this year.
The data also indicated that food inflation was up 30.1% from 26.6% last month and month-on-month food inflation was 4.0%. Per the data oils and fats, water, cereal products and fruit and vegetable juices have seen the largest increases in prices this year.
Non-food inflation was 25.7% up from 21.3% last month and month-on-month non-food inflation was 4.1%.
Inflation for locally produced items was 27.3 while that of imported items was 28.2%.
Government Statistician Samuel Kobina Annim told reporters that a downtrend in food inflation in the coming months would be dependent on the availability of fertilizer and favourable rains.
The newspaper says that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has commissioned an expanded infant cereal plant at Nestlé Ghana Limited in Tema.
The GH¢175.4 million project is expected to increase the company’s production capacity of Cerelac, an infant formula, by 6,700 tonnes annually.
The plant is under phase one of the company’s expansion programme to increase its export to 24 more African countries.
The company is also seeking to invest an additional GH¢55.6 million into phase two of the project in 2023, which will bring the total investment to GH¢231 million to increase the plant’s production capacity from 13,000 tonnes to 19,700 tonnes annually.
This will ensure the country becomes the main production and supply hub in West and Central Africa.
President Akufo-Addo, who commissioned the plant yesterday, said the investment by Nestlé reinforced the strategic partnership between the government and the private sector to improve the welfare and living standards of the people.
He said the evolution of Nestlé symbolised the commitment of the company to the growth and development of the nation, adding that the successes by the company, which presently has 1,200 workers, should motivate other private sector players in the country to also develop global brands.
The President further said that since assumption of office in 2017, the government had taken deliberate steps to re-direct the focus of investment priorities of the country by mobilising resources for the growth of identified sectors.
He said such interventions were to enhance the country’s outlook from being a mere producer of raw materials to one of a value-added industrialised economy that would provide job opportunities and prosperity for all, especially the youth.
The President, however, said the combined effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine had devastated the country’s economy.
The Graphic also reports that ActionAid Ghana has called on the government to as a matter of urgency address the high rising cost of food products in the country.
The NGO states that the rising price of food has disproportional impacts on people living in poverty, particularly women and children.
In a statement signed and issued by the Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, John Nkaw, on Tuesday, June 8, 2022, urged the government to take policy measures to subsidise food accessibility to low-income people, particularly women and children.
It further encouraged the government to increase social protection safety nets and other measures to improve the income of people in urban and rural areas to cope with the increasing food prices.
“Government must invest in building national food reserves to act as buffers and reduce vulnerability to food shortages and price rises,” Mr Nkaw noted.
He called on the government to scale-up support to smallholder farmers, especially women smallholders and sustainable agroecological approaches to farming, so farmers can improve soil fertility for crop production, without the use of expensive fossil-fuel chemical fertilizers.
Mr Nkaw also applauded the African Union (AU) for choosing nutrition and food security as its theme for the occasion.
The 2022 African Day was held on the theme: “Strengthening resilience in nutrition and food security on the Africa continent.”
For him, “the theme is significant in addressing malnutrition and improving food security across the continent.”
GIK/APA