US Economist To President Akufo-Addo : I Measure Ghana’s Inflation At 91%; Scrap Ineffective Policies To Tackle Sky-High Rate

Professor Professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University in the US, Steve Hanke has told President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to remove his ineffective economic policies that are causing high inflation rate in the country.

He also asked the President to install a currency board to assist in tackling the upward trend of the rate.

In a tweet, Prof Hanke said “On Jan 12th, I measured #Ghana‘s inflation at a sky-high 91%/yr, which is why in this week’s inflation roundup, Ghana takes the 7th place. To end its inflationary disaster, Pres. Akufo-Addo needs to scrap his ineffective economic policies and install a currency board.”

On Jan 12th, I measured #Ghana's inflation at a sky-high 91%/yr, which is why in this week's inflation roundup, GHA takes the 7th place. To end its inflationary disaster, Pres. Akufo-Addo needs to scrap his ineffective economic policies and install a currency board. pic.twitter.com/7ATkZPZpF8

— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) January 15, 2023

The official rate of inflation for December 2022 was 54.1 per cent, as announced by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on Wednesday January 11.

This is up from the 40.4 per cent recorded in November same year.

The month-on-month inflation rate was at 3.8% in December 2022.

According to the figures, five divisions recorded inflation rates higher than the national average.

Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (82.34%); Furnishings, Household Equipment (71.52%); Transport (71.42%); Personal Care, Social Protection and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (60.94%) and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (59.71%).

Whilst Food inflation went up by 4.4% in December 2022, Non-Food Inflation went up to 49.9% in December 2022, from 46.5% in November 2022.

Inflation for locally produced items was 51.1% and inflation for imported items was 61.9%.

Eight sub-classes registered inflation rates higher then the food inflation average. They included Water (94.2%), Fruit and Vegetable Juices (84.6%), Milk, Other Diary Products and Eggs (82.2%) and Tea, Mate and Other Plant Products for Infusion (77.7%).