Inflation rises to 5% in August, reversing previous decline

Ghana’s year-on-year inflation rate has risen to 5.0% in August 2026, up from 4.6% in July, as higher non-food and services inflation put renewed pressure on the headline rate.Ghana economic insights

Data from the Ghana Statistical Service show that while overall prices fell by 1% between July and August, the annual inflation rate increased by 0.4 percentage points.

The divergence between the monthly movement in prices and the annual inflation rate highlights the changing composition of price pressures in the economy, with non-food items and services emerging as key drivers of the August increase.

Non-food inflation drives August increase

Non-food inflation climbed to 6.8% in August, from 6.1% in July, contributing significantly to the rise in the headline rate.

Services inflation also edged up to 8.6%, from 8.5% in the previous month, maintaining its position as one of the areas recording relatively high price pressures.

Food inflation, however, continued to ease, falling marginally to 3.0% in August, from 3.1% in July.

The data suggest that the recent moderation in food prices is helping to contain overall inflation, even as pressures in non-food categories and services remain elevated.

Goods and services show divergent trends

Inflation for goods increased to 3.8% in August, from 3.4% in July, pointing to a renewed rise in the annual pace of price increases for goods.

Inflation for locally produced items also rose to 6.1%, compared with 5.9% in July.

Imported inflation, meanwhile, increased slightly to 2.2%, from 2.0% in the previous month.

The relatively lower rate of imported inflation could indicate that external price pressures remain contained compared with domestic factors, although developments in global commodity and currency markets could still influence the inflation outlook.

Inflation remains well below 2025 levels

Despite the uptick in August, Ghana’s inflation rate remains significantly below the levels recorded a year earlier.

The 5.0% rate in August 2026 compares with 11.5% in August 2025, representing a substantial 6.5 percentage-point decline over the 12-month period.

The latest figures therefore point to continued disinflation compared with a year ago, even though the month-on-month increase in the annual rate suggests that the downward trend is not necessarily linear.