By Francis Ntow, GNA
Accra, April 1, 2026 – The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says though the headline inflation numbers suggest stability, services are becoming more expensive as goods prices fall, reflecting in higher prices in education, utilities, and other service-related expenses.
This comes as the country’s inflation rate continued its downward trend, easing to 3.2 per cent in March 2026, marking the 15th consecutive month of decline, down sharply from 22.4 per cent in March 2025.
Although goods make up about 73 per cent of household spending, its inflation declined to 1.7 per cent in March, compared to services, whose inflation surged to 7.2 per cent, nearly doubling from 3.7 per cent in February.
Dr Alhassan Iddrisu, the Government Statistician, giving the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), on Wednesday, noted that consumers were benefiting directly from lower costs of everyday items such as food and household products.
On the other hand, services, including public/private senior secondary school fees, payment for rent, and pre-primary and primary school education, ranked among the top 10 items contributing to inflation, with a cumulative 25.3 per cent year-over-year inflation.
He noted that services inflation increased to 7.2 per cent from 3.7 per cent, with monthly increases of 0.4 per cent, showing that services were now the main source of upward pressure on prices.
“Services are becoming more expensive even as goods prices decline,” Dr Iddrisu said, noting that overall inflation was not broad-based, but concentrated on a few critical areas that affected daily lives.
“Inflation is being driven by three areas of household spending – housing, food and education. These three put together account for for 87.5 per cent of the total inflation,” the Government Statistician said.
He stated that housing and utilities were the largest drivers of inflation, contributing 40.6 per cent of the total, reflecting rising cost of rent and energy, while education saw rising cost with inflation of 8.1 per cent.
Responding to a question posed by the Ghana News Agency regarding the development particularly in the education sector, Dr Iddrisu explained that the price pressures in the sector was mainly from the private sector.
“The education sector is made up of the private and government sector, and from the data from the field, once we haven’t seen increases in the public sector regarding secondary education, it’s possible that this inflation is coming from the private sector,” he said.
Going forward, Dr Iddrisu, advised a careful watch of happenings in the services sector, with the government continuing its fiscal discipline gains and sustaining measures to stabilise prices, especially in the services sector.
He urged 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.
Dr Iddrisu 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.
“The Ghana Statistical Service remains committed to providing timely, accurate, relevant and credible data. Our goal is clear – to support evidence-based decision making and national development,” he added.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe