Producer price index records marginal increase

The Production Price Index (PPI) increased by 15.8 percent between April 2011 and April 2012.

The increase represents a decrease in producer inflation of 0.4 percent relative to the rate recorded in March 2012 which stood at 16.2 percent.

Acting Deputy Government Statistician, Baah Wadieh told a news conference in Accra that the compilation was done from producer price changes as well as the annual year-on-year and monthly inflation rates for all industry as well as Mining and Quarrying, Manufacturing and Utilities for the last twelve months.

He however explained figures for the month of April 2012 are provisional and are subject to revision when additional data are available.

In April 2012, the producer price inflation in the mining and quarrying sector decreased by 7.2 percent over the March 2012 rate of 31.5 percent.

Manufacturing, which constitutes more than two thirds of total industry, increased to 16.2 percent from a rate of 15.5 percent in March while those of the utilities sector increased slightly by 0.1 percent from the March 2012 rate of 9.4 percent to 9.5 percent in April 2012.

From April 2011-2012, all the industry inflation rate decreased gradually from 24.3 percent in April 2011 to 12.0 percent in June 2011.

Subsequently, the rate increased consistently till it peaked at 19.6 percent in September, 2011 and then declined sharply to 16.4 percent in October 2011.

The producer inflation rate increased steadily over three months from the beginning of 2012, but dropped marginally in April at 15.8 percent.

The Head of Economic Statistics Division of the GSS, Ebo Duncan said government revenue will be affected by the figures, saying when revenue falls, taxes also reduce.

“Manufacturing and Utility, has direct impact on ordinary people in the sense that when the price of production increases, the retailer will also increase the price of goods and services and this in return affect Ghanaians”, he said.