This means that the rate at which prices of goods and services change over a given time (in this case March) was the same for February.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has indicated that the inflation rate for March 2020 remained at 7.8%.
It also implies that the general price level for March 2020 was 7.8% higher than in March 2019.
The food and non-alcoholic beverages division recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 8.4%. This is 0.5 percentage point higher than last month.
According to the data from the GSS, this is the highest food inflation since the rebasing in August 2019. This means that food is the predominant driver of year-on-year inflation.
The data added that transportation has become a less important contributor to inflation.
The price level of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 1.5%, between February 2020 and March 2020,
“Like last month, this rise is predominantly driven by an increase in price levels of vegetables and fruits and nuts,” the GSS said.
The inflation of imported goods was 5.6%, while the inflation of local goods was 8.8% on average. This is the highest rate of local inflation and the lowest rate of imported goods inflation since the rebasing in August 2019.
The differential inflation rate between locally produced items and imported items was 3.3 percentage points.
Inflation for locally produced goods has been growing faster than inflation for imported goods over the last 5 months.
On the regional inflation figures, 5 regions recorded inflation rates above the national average of 7.8%
These regions are Volta, Eastern, Western, Greater Accra and Northern Regions. Volta Region recorded the highest inflation of 9.2%.
The Eastern Region followed with 8.7%, Western Region with 8.5%, Greater Accra with 8.3% and Northern with 8.1 percent.
The Upper West Region, like last month, had the lowest year-on-year inflation rate of 3.7 percent.
However, the Greater Accra Region experienced the lowest regional inflation since the rebasing in August 2019.