The report that the country’s Statistical Service says that Ghana’s consumer price inflation increased to 12.2% in November 2021 compared with 11.0% in October 2021 is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that the country’s Statistical Service has said that Ghana’s consumer price inflation was 12.2% in November 2021 compared with 11.0% in October 2021.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service data, November was the sixth month in a row that inflation rose in Ghana with Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuels (20.5%) recording the highest contributions to the country’s inflation rate.
Transport (16.0%) was the second-highest contributor to inflation followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages with 13.1%.
Addressing a press briefing in Accra, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim said inflation for locally produced items continue to dominate imported items.
“Food has resumed its dominance over non-food items with a 1.5 percentage points difference, 13.1% versus 11.6% respectively, Prof Annim said.
“Month-on-month food inflation this month was higher than non-food inflation by 1.3 percentage points.
“Housing and Transport (which includes fuel) were the Divisions that recorded the highest inflation, 20.5% and 16.0% respectively,” he said.
The newspaper says that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said it is not the right time to reopen Ghana’s land borders at a time a fourth wave of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was threatening with the discovery of a new variant – Omicron.
In a national address on Wednesday night, President Akufo-Addo reiterated that Ghana’s land borders will remain closed until the right time.
The address, which was the 27th update President Akufo-Addo has given to the nation since the outbreak of the disease elaborated on the new measures taken to prevent the spread of the disease especially during the Yuletide.
On the continuous closure of the borders, President Akufo-Addo said: “To my fellow Ghanaians living along the borders of our nation, I know of the difficulties occasioned by the closure of our borders.
“As you know, the decision to close our borders, which are a source of livelihoods for many, was necessary because we wanted to limit the importation of the virus into the country.
“We are monitoring the level of threat of the disease and ongoing vaccinations in our neighbouring countries, and, as soon as we are satisfied that it is safe to do so, the borders will be open. Until then, I believe this is not the right time to reopen our land borders, especially as we are determined to prevent a 4th wave, and, as such, they will remain closed until further notice,” the President said.
President Akufo-Addo said as of Sunday, December 12, 2021, some 2,042,778 tests had been conducted, out of which 131,911 positive cases had been recorded.
The Ghanaian Times reports that a report by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) to assess progress so far on the United Nations (UN) 2020 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has projected 2.3 million Ghanaians to live below the national poverty line by 2030.
Poverty line is the estimated minimum level of income needed to secure the necessities of life.
The report said six regions, namely, Western, Central, Greater Accra, Eastern, Ashanti and the then Brong Ahafo, were to achieve the target of halving poverty line by the same year (2030), while concerted efforts were required to ensure that Volta, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions meet the targeted national poverty line.
It added that on SDG goal one, the proportion of Ghanaians who were classified as poor based on the national definition reduced from 24.2 per cent in 2013 to 23.4 per cent in 2017.
However, the report explained that in absolute terms, the total number of the poor increased by about 400,000 as of 2017, representing 25.8 per cent poor males and 17.6 per cent females.
The Chief Analyst of NDPC, Dr Richard Osei Bofah, highlighted this during a presentation to launch the UN SDGs 2020 and the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 reports yesterday in Accra.
He said the rural savannah zone experienced a rise in the proportion of poor households from 55 per cent in 2013 to 64 per cent in 2017, indicating that the completion rate in Ghana at the primary school level also rose to 102.4 per cent in 2018/19 and reduced to 101.9 per cent in the 2019/20 academic year.
“The completion rate at Junior High School declined from 79.1 per cent in 2018/19 academic year to 77.5 per cent in 2019/20 academic year.
The recorded rate for girls who completed was 77.1 per cent whereas that of boys was 78 per cent in the 2019/20 academic year,” Dr Bofah said.
The newspaper says that beverage companies in the country must take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative to export to other African markets, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey.
He said with the implementation of AfCFTA, beverage producers in the country must look beyond the Ghanaian market and explore to other African markets.
Mr Mantey, who was speaking at the launch of the 6th edition of the Ghana Beverage Awards (GBA) in Accra yesterday, said AfCFTA had created a huge market for companies in Ghana to explore, saying “Beverage companies should realise they are currently selling to Africa and not only to Ghana.”
The 2021 GBA, which is on the theme: “Inspiring Excellence in Ghana’s Beverage Industry,” would be held in March next year.
Mr Okraku-Mantey said the Beverage Industry had contributed greatly to the development of the country through tax and job creation, adding that the industry had also supported the Tourism, Arts and Culture and helped to unearth talents in the music industry.
He said the government would continue to support the sector to thrive, and lauded the Global Media Alliance (GMA) for initiating the GBA to reward excellence in the beverage sector.
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Michael Okyere Baafi, commended GMA for introducing the GBA to promote the local beverage industry.
GIK/APA