Producer inflation peaks at 15.6% in January
Inflation from the producer’s perspective rose to 15.6 per cent in January.
The producer price inflation (PPI), which tracks price changes from the factory gate, rose from 14.7 per cent in December last year to 15.6 per cent in January.
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The Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, said the month-on-month change in producer price index between December 2021 and January 2022 was four per cent.
He said the January PPI was driven by increases in the mining and quarrying and the manufacturing sub-sectors.
He said the utilities subsector recorded the least inflation.
Trends
The PPI started January 2021 at 8.7 per cent but rose to 13 per cent in March 2020, before declining to 10.9 per cent in April 2021.
It resumed an upward trajectory, hitting 11.8 per cent in May 2021 only to revert to 8.1 per cent in August 2021.
Subsequently, the rate resumed the upward trajectory, peaking at 15.6 per cent in January 2022.
Distribution
Touching on the sectorial distribution, Prof. Annim said the January PPI showed that two out of the 16 major groups in the manufacturing sub-sector recorded inflation rates higher than the sector average of 22.9 per cent.
He said the manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel recorded the highest inflation rate of 35 per cent, while the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers recorded the least inflation rate of negative 2.9 per cent.
Petroleum sub-sector
The government statistician added that the producer inflation rate in the petroleum sub-sector was also 4.4 per cent in January 2021.
He said the rate increased continuously to peak at 31 per cent in March 2021 but declined to 23.9 per cent in June 2021.
The rate, he said, then increased continuously to 58.4 per cent in November 2021 but fell to 35.0 per cent in January.