Ghana producer price inflation rises to 27.8 pct in March

President Mahama

Ghana's annual producer price inflation reached a four-year high of 27.8 percent in March, due in part to a rise in gold prices and depreciation of the local currency, the West African country's national statistics office said on Wednesday.
Producer price inflation, which is an indicator of the future trend for consumer prices, rose from 27.1 percent in February to its highest level since January 2010. It has increased steadily from 15.3 percent in December.
Consumer price inflation hit a four-year high of 14.5 percent in March, data showed earlier this month.
"The increase (in producer prices) was as a result of a rise recorded by the extractive industries. We observed that (producer prices in) the sector increased to 14.5 pct in March from 3.1 pct in February," Baah Wadieh, deputy government statistician told a news conference.
"This is the key driving factor and it is attributable to recovering global gold prices and partly to the depreciation of the cedi," Wadieh said.
The rise in prices is a further sign of Ghana's fiscal instability, which has tarnished the country's record as one of Africa's economic stars based on years of strong growth on the back of exports of gold, cocoa and oil and helped by democratic stability.
Ghana's budget deficit stood at 10.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2013 while the cedi currency <GHS=> has fallen 18 percent against the dollar this year.