Ghana’s year-on-year inflation rate increased for the third consecutive month to 5.5 percent in October 2026, from 5.2 percent in September, as rising services and transportation costs outweighed a slowdown in food price increases.
Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu said non-food items accounted for approximately 76 percent of the October inflation rate, with food contributing the remaining 24 percent.
Presenting the October 2026 Consumer Price Index and Inflation Report, he attributed the latest increase largely to mounting price pressures in the services sector, which recorded inflation of 11.5 percent, up sharply from 8.3 percent in September.
In contrast, goods inflation eased to 3.8 percent from 4.2 percent over the same period.
“Services are now rising about three times as fast as goods,” he observed, highlighting the growing influence of service-related costs on household expenditure.
Transport recorded the highest inflation among the 13 expenditure divisions, accelerating to 14.1 percent in October from 5.7 percent in September, following an eight percent increase in prices during the month.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels was the largest single contributor to overall inflation, accounting for 24.4 percent. Food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 24.3 percent, while transport accounted for 22.5 percent. Together, the three divisions represented approximately 70 percent of national inflation.
Food inflation, however, eased considerably to 2.8 percent in October, compared with four percent in September and 9.5 percent in October 2025.
Food prices declined by two percent month-on-month, contributing to an overall 0.1 percent reduction in average prices between September and October.
The report also revealed that locally produced items continued to exert greater pressure on inflation than imported products. Locally produced goods recorded inflation of 6.9 percent and accounted for 86.4 percent of the overall rate, compared with 2.4 percent for imported items.
Regionally, Ashanti recorded the highest inflation at 9.7 percent, followed by Eastern at 7.8 percent and Ahafo at 6.8 percent. Northern recorded the lowest rate at negative 0.5 percent.
At the commodity level, fresh tomatoes recorded the highest annual price increase of 119.3 percent, followed by shrimps at 88.8 percent and ginger at 88.2 percent.
Dr Iddrisu noted that October’s 5.5 percent inflation remained below the Bank of Ghana’s medium-term target of eight percent, plus or minus two percentage points.
He urged businesses, households and policymakers to use the disaggregated inflation data to guide spending, cost management and economic decisions.
Source: businesspostonline
