Ghana's consumer inflation rises to 19.0 pct in Jan

Ghana's annual consumer price inflation rose to 19.0 percent in January from 17.7 percent the month before on utility and fuel price hikes, deputy government statistician Baah Wadieh told a news conference on Wednesday.
Ghana raised tariffs for electricity by 59.2 percent in December and water by up to 89 percent to increase competition in the sector and as part of a plan to stabilize the economy. Fuel prices also went up by 27 percent in January.
The West African nation is implementing a three-year aid programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an attempt to restore macro-economic balance in the face of problems including inflation persistently above target.
Wadieh said inflation was at its highest level since Jan. 2013 with food inflation at 8.2 percent from 8.0 percent in December and non-food inflation at 25.5 percent up from 23.3 percent the month before.
The IMF and the central bank project that inflation will peak before slowing to around 10 percent at the end of the year, but analysts said January's rise could make it hard to meet this target.
"This will make it difficult for the authorities to reach their end-year target of 10 percent, even given tight fiscal and monetary policy," said Standard Chartered's head of Africa research Razia Khan.