Ghana Fuel Prices Seen Pushing Inflation to Highest This Year
- By Moses Mozart Dzawu & Ekow Dontoh
- Jun 16, 2015
- 1 min read
Ghana’s inflation will probably quicken to the highest level since December because of rising fuel prices, according to Capital Economics Ltd and Databank Group Ltd.
Inflation may increase to more than 17 percent, John Ashbourne, an Africa economist at London-based Capital Economics, said by phone on Tuesday. Accra-based Databank forecasts consumer prices to rise 17 percent, the highest since December.
Fuel stations began raising prices for gasoline by 4.2 percent Tuesday as the government gave operators, including Total SA and Royal Dutch Shell SA, the ability to adjust prices for the first time. Previously, the government had set fees for the fuel.
“It should cause inflation to rise a little bit,” Ashbourne said. “It is starting at a time crude prices are falling but we’ll see prices at fuel stations rise a bit because of elimination of subsidies.”
Ghana’s inflation advanced for the fourth month in May to 16.9 percent as the cedi weakened. The currency dropped less than 0.1 percent to 4.33 per dollar at 11:57 a.m. in Accra, the capital, extending its decline to 26 percent this year.
Source: bloomberg.com
By Moses Mozart Dzawu & Ekow Dontoh
