Ghana’s year-on-year inflation rate increased to 5.3 percent in June 2026, up from 3.7 percent in May, marking the third consecutive monthly increase since inflation fell to a low of 3.2 percent in March.
While the rise represents a 1.6 percentage-point increase from the previous month, Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu maintained that the broader inflation picture remains one of significant progress compared to a year ago, when inflation stood at 13.7 percent.
“At first glance, this increase may appear worrying. However, the broader picture tells a more balanced story,” Dr Iddrisu said while presenting the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.
“Although year-on-year inflation increased compared with last month, price pressures remain substantially lower than they were one year ago.”
The June inflation figure represents an 8.4 percentage-point decline from June 2025, highlighting the substantial gains made in reducing inflation over the past 12 months.
The CPI increased from 257.3 in June 2025 to 270.8 in June 2026, reflecting the 5.3 percent increase in consumer prices over the period under review.
A key takeaway from the June report was the moderation in month-on-month inflation.
Prices increased by 0.2 percent between May and June 2026, significantly lower than the 1.1 percent increase recorded between April and May.
According to Dr Iddrisu, this distinction is important because annual inflation and monthly inflation measure different developments.
“Year-on-year inflation looks back over 12 months, whereas month-on-month inflation tells us what happened over the last four weeks,” he explained.
The relatively low monthly increase suggests that although annual inflation accelerated, actual price increases within June were modest.
“Consumer prices increased by 0.2 percent between May and June. This tells us that although the annual rate moved up, the actual price increase within the month was relatively small. In simple terms, the yearly number went up, but the monthly pace cooled.”
The latest figures continue a remarkable disinflation trend observed over the past year.
Inflation declined steadily from 13.7 percent in June 2025 to 3.2 percent in March 2026, before gradually rising over three consecutive months to reach 5.3 percent in June.
Despite the recent rebound, inflation remains less than half the level recorded a year ago. “The message from the data is one of progress, but not complacency,” Dr Iddrisu said.
“Ghana has reduced inflation significantly over the past year. However, the recent upward trend since March indicates that inflationary pressures are beginning to strengthen again.”
Food inflation increased marginally from 3.3 percent in May to 3.9 percent in June, contributing 31.5 percent of headline inflation.
Despite food accounting for the largest share of household expenditure, Dr Iddrisu noted that food prices remained relatively stable during the month.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation stood at just 0.1 percent, compared with 2.0 percent recorded in May.
“This tells us that food prices were largely stable between May and June 2026,” he said.
The report showed significant variation among food commodities.
Products recording the highest annual price increases included:
Ginger – 102.5%
- Shrimps – 90.8%
- Mangoes – 87.2%
- Bananas – 47.8%
- Avocado pear – 43.8%
Conversely, several staple food items recorded substantial price declines:
- Kontomire – (-38.0%)
- Garden eggs – (-33.1%)
- Maize – (-32.1%)
- Millet – (-23.0%)
- Pawpaw – (-22.4%)
Dr Iddrisu said the contrasting price movements demonstrate that food inflation reflects the combined effect of numerous products rather than the performance of a single commodity.
“Although individual products experienced exceptionally high inflation, many staple foods recorded price reductions, helping to moderate overall food inflation.”
The strongest upward pressure came from non-food categories.
Year-on-year non-food inflation rose sharply from 4.1 percent in May to 6.3 percent in June, contributing 68.5 percent of overall inflation.
“The recent increase in headline inflation was driven more by non-food products and services than by food prices,” Dr Iddrisu noted.
Month-on-month non-food inflation remained relatively contained at 0.4 percent. The report highlighted persistent price pressures within the services sector.
Services inflation stood at 9.5 percent, slightly down from 9.9 percent in May, but remained considerably higher than goods inflation.
Goods inflation increased from 1.4 percent in May to 3.7 percent in June. “Services continue to experience much stronger price increases than goods,” Dr Iddrisu said.
He attributed the trend to sustained cost pressures in sectors such as transportation, accommodation, education and other personal services.
The June data also showed that inflationary pressures remain overwhelmingly domestic in origin. Inflation for locally produced items increased from 5.0 percent in May to 6.7 percent in June, while imported inflation rose from 0.9 percent to 2.3 percent.
However, locally produced goods and services accounted for 86.6 percent of total inflation, compared with only 13.4 percent for imported products.
“This finding tells us that inflation in Ghana is currently being driven primarily by domestic factors rather than imported price pressures,” Dr Iddrisu stated.
He said the development underscores the importance of improving agricultural productivity, transportation systems, storage facilities, market efficiency and domestic supply chains.
Inflation continued to vary significantly across regions.
The North East Region recorded the highest annual inflation rate at 10.2 percent, marginally above the 10.1 percent recorded in May.
At the opposite end, the Savannah Region recorded the lowest inflation rate at negative 4.4 percent, meaning prices were on average lower than they were a year earlier.
The Western Region also recorded deflation of negative 0.5 percent.
Other major regions recorded increases:
- Ashanti Region – 7.8% (from 6.1%)
- Greater Accra Region – 5.8% (from 4.1%)
- Eastern Region – 7.4% (from 5.4%)
- Central Region – 6.8% (from 5.0%)
Although North East posted the highest inflation rate, Dr Iddrisu noted that Ashanti and Greater Accra together accounted for approximately 63 percent of national inflation because of their larger populations and household expenditure shares.
“Contribution depends not only on inflation rates but also on the size of household spending in each region,” he explained.
Among the expenditure divisions, food remained the largest contributor to inflation at 31.5 percent, but transport recorded the most dramatic turnaround.
Transport inflation surged from negative 2.8 percent in May to positive 9.1 percent in June, contributing 17.9 percent of headline inflation.
Bus and trotro fares alone accounted for 10.5 percent of total inflation, making them the single largest contributor among all items in the CPI basket.
Taxi fares increased by 25 percent year-on-year, while bus and trotro fares rose by 10.2 percent, reversing declines recorded in May.
Dr Iddrisu attributed the shift largely to base effects, previous increases in global crude oil prices and the removal of the suspension of selected petroleum sector margins and levies.
“This month, transport told a very different story from last month. Transport has swung from subtracting from inflation in May to adding to it in June. This is the single biggest reason annual inflation accelerated this month,” he said.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed 15.1 percent of inflation, while education services contributed 10.7 percent.
Despite the June increase, the Government Statistician said Ghana remains in a significantly more stable inflation environment than it was a year ago.
However, he cautioned that rising transport costs, stronger non-food inflation and persistent services-sector pressures warrant close monitoring.
“While the overall inflation environment remains much more stable than a year ago, the recent increase deserves close attention to safeguard the gains achieved,” Dr Iddrisu said.
Source: businesspostonline
