The panic buying and mad rush for food and alcoholic products has shot up the general prices of goods and services, as figures from the Ghana Statistical Services show inflation for April has entered double digits, first time since rebasing in August.
The 10.6 percent inflation for April, though is an astronomical jump from the usual single digits recorded in recent years, is not so much of a surprise considering the hike in prices of foods and other essentials by traders when the government announced a lock down as part of measures to contain the spread of the pandemic. For example, just 2.6 kg (olonka) of gari that was sold at GH¢7 in the markets of Accra, saw its price jimp by as much as 350 percentage points to GH¢25.
In fact, the GSS data itself indicates that on average, the rate of inflation in regions that were directly hit by the partial lockdowns was 8.81 percent higher than the other regions. Among the food items that accounted for the surge in average prices were cassava, gari, tomatoes, okro and garden eggs.
Food inflation was 14.4 percent for April compared with the average previous 8 months figure of 7.9 percent.
More to follow….
