Ghana annual inflation rises to 14.8 pct in May -stats office

President Mahama

Ghana's annual consumer price inflation rose to a four-year high of 14.8 percent in May from 14.7 percent in April, fuelled in part by a weakening currency, the West African nation's statistics office said on Wednesday.
The rise is less than the 15 percent forecast in a Reuters poll but still pushes the rate further beyond the 2014 target of 9.5 percent, plus or minus 2 percentage points, set in November's annual budget.
Ghana is battling a stubborn budget deficit, high bond yields and a cedi currency that has depreciated 28 percent this year.
The fiscal problems have taken the shine off an economy feted for five years of gross domestic product growth above 8 percent on the back of its exports of gold, cocoa and oil.
"The main price drivers for May were housing, water, electricity, gas, other fuels and transport," government statistician Philomena Nyarko told a news conference.
"The depreciation of the cedi has affected imported goods under the non-food sector. There is some impact especially on the prices of hair products, wine and emulsion paint which went up significantly in May," she said.