Ghana's consumer inflation rises to 16.6 pct in March on weaker cedi

Ghana's annual consumer price inflation rose marginally to 16.6 percent in March from 16.5 percent in the previous month, driven by the depreciation of the local currency, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
The West African nation started a three-year aid program worth $918 million with the International Monetary Fund this month to fix its economy, dogged by deficits, widening public debt and high inflation.
"The key drivers for the marginal rise are mainly imported goods whose prices are affected by the exchange rate," deputy government statistician Baah Wadieh told a news conference in Accra.
Wadieh said food inflation rose by 0.2 percentage points to 7.2 percent in March. The rate of inflation for non-food items was 23.1 percent, up from 23.0 pct the month before.
The monthly change rate was 1.0 percent compared to 1.2 pct in February, he said.
Ghana received the first disbursement of $114.8 million as part of the IMF program this week and the government said the funds would be used to boost the central bank's reserves.
The government also expects the deal to unlock additional donor and investor inflows in support of the local cedi currency, which is down around 14 percent since January.