Adoa News Adoa News
Ghana’s year-on-year inflation rate increased to 5.0% in August 2026, from 4.6% in July, driven largely by rising prices for non-food items and services.
Figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service show that despite a 1% decline in overall prices between July and August, the annual inflation rate still rose by 0.4 percentage points.
The contrasting movements highlight a shift in the sources of price pressures within the economy. While food inflation continued to moderate, non-food goods and services recorded stronger inflationary pressures during the month.
Non-food inflation leads the increase
Non-food inflation rose to 6.8% in August, up from 6.1% in July, making it one of the main contributors to the increase in the headline inflation rate.
Services inflation also edged higher, reaching 8.6%, compared with 8.5% in July. The sector continues to record comparatively high price pressures.
Food inflation, on the other hand, continued its downward trend, falling slightly to 3.0% in August from 3.1% in July.
The continued easing of food inflation is helping to limit broader price increases, although persistent pressures in non-food categories and services are pushing the overall rate higher.
Goods and services record mixed movements
Inflation for goods increased to 3.8% in August, compared with 3.4% in July, indicating a renewed acceleration in the annual pace of price increases for goods.
Prices of locally produced items also recorded an increase, with inflation rising to 6.1% from 5.9% in the previous month.
Imported inflation similarly edged up to 2.2%, from 2.0% in July.
However, the relatively lower rate of imported inflation suggests that external price pressures remain more contained than domestic inflationary factors. Global commodity prices and movements in the currency market could nevertheless continue to influence the inflation outlook.
Inflation remains well below last year’s level
Despite the increase recorded in August, Ghana’s inflation rate remains considerably lower than it was a year earlier.
The 5.0% inflation rate recorded in August 2026 compares with 11.5% in August 2025, representing a decline of 6.5 percentage points over the 12-month period.
The latest figures therefore point to continued disinflation compared with a year ago. However, the increase in the annual rate between July and August shows that the downward trajectory in inflation is not necessarily a straight-line decline, with price pressures continuing to shift across different sectors of the economy.