Ghana inflation rises to 13.0 pct in April on higher transport costs

Higher transport costs helped drive Ghana's annual inflation rate higher to 13.0 percent in April from 12.8 percent the previous month, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
The government of President Nana Akufo-Addo wants to slow inflation to 11.2 percent by the end of the year as part of its drive to restore macroeconomic stability under a three-year aid deal with the International Monetary Fund.
In a positive for that target, food inflation fell to 6.7 percent in April from 7.3 percent a month earlier. Non-food inflation, however, accelerated to 16.3 percent from 15.6.
"The marginal increase in the index was mainly due to a rise in transport fares which went up by 9.6 percent last month," deputy government statistician Baah Wadieh told a news conference.
Ghana, which exports cocoa, gold and oil, said in April it was committed to reducing inflation, public debt and the budget deficit. It was one of Africa's best-performing economies until 2014, when it was hit by a slump in commodity prices.
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