Ghana’s consumer price inflation eased for the 15th consecutive month in March 2026, recording a rate of to 3.2 per cent year-on-year, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said on Wednesday.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the change over time in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption, rose to 264.8 from the previous 252.6 in January 2025.
The 3.2 per cent inflation rate for March 2026 marks the lowest level in about three decades since August 1999, when inflation was 1.4 per cent and the lowest rate recorded following the 2021 CPI rebasing.
“This is the lowest inflation we have recorded since the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index in 2021 and… it shows a steady and sustained movement towards stability,” Dr Alhassan Iddrisu, Government Statistician said during a virtual press briefing.
However, on a month-on-month basis, overall prices edged up by 0.1 per cent between February and March 2026, indicating that price pressures remained well contained in the near term despite recent economic crisis from the Middle East war.
Dr Iddrisu explained that the fifteen-month constant decline reflected combined effects of exchange rate stabilisation following Ghana’s debt restructuring, tighter fiscal and monetary policy, and the normalisation of global commodity prices that had fuelled earlier price spikes.
In terms of components, food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded the largest single component of the CPI basket, carrying a weight of 42.7 per cent with a year-on-year inflation rate of 2.3 per cent in March 2026, easing slightly from 2.4 per cent in February.
Nonetheless, monthly food prices declined by 0.3 per cent between February and March, a condition Dr Iddrisu said provided direct relief to households for whom food expenditure dominated their budgets.
“The broad deceleration in food inflation, which peaked above 29 per cent in early 2023 and stood at 26.5 percent as recently as March 2025, reflects improved domestic food supply conditions and a stronger cedi reducing the cost of imported food inputs,” he said.
Non-food inflation, while also declining on a year-on-year basis to 3.9 per cent from four per cent in February, remained relatively high to food inflation, contributing 57.3 per cent to the basket.
On month-on-month basis, non-food prices increased by 0.3 per cent, driven by persistent pressures in services and housing categories, indicating that structural cost pressures in services and utilities remained a work in progress.
While inflation for goods inflation slowed to 1.7 per cent year-on-year from 3.2 per cent in February 2026, services inflation, by contrast, surged to 7.2 per cent year-on-year in March from 3.7 percent in February.
At the divisional level, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels remained the largest contributor to year-on-year inflation, recording a rate of 12.4 per cent in March 2026 and contributing 1.3 percentage points to the headline figure.
Education services came in second among the high-inflation divisions at 8.1 per cent year-on-year, up from 7.1 per cent in February, driven by increases in school fees across both public and private secondary schools.
Insurance and financial services recorded 8.4 per cent, sport and culture posted 6.4 per cent, and restaurants and accommodation, 6.2 percent, while transport recorded a negative year-on-year inflation at 7.3 percent.
At the regional level, the North East Region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate at 8.6 per cent, followed by Ashanti at five per cent, Volta at 4.6 per cent, Central at 4.4 per cent, and Eastern at 4.1 per cent.
On the other hand, the Savannah Region recorded deflation of negative (-4.6 per cent) year-on-year, meaning prices were lower in March 2026 than in March 2025, followed by Bono East, recording -3.4 per cent and Upper East, -1.8 percent.
The Government Statistician attributed these differences to disparities in local food supply conditions, transport costs, and market access, and flagged the persistence of regional inflation inequality as a structural challenge requiring targeted policy attention.
He recommended to the government to stay the course on fiscal discipline and sustain measures to stabilise food prices, while directing targeted investment into storage infrastructure, irrigation, transport networks, and market access improvements.
Dr Iddrisu told businesses to invest in operational efficiency and strengthen local supply chains, translating cost savings from the lower-inflation environment into more stable consumer prices rather than pocketing them as margin.
He advised households to have effective budget plans with greater confidence, track spending on food, rent, and school fees, reduce non-essential expenditure, and build small savings buffers to strengthen financial resilience ahead of any potential reversal.
Source: GNA
