By Francis Ntow
Accra, Oct 20, GNA – Producer prices in Ghana rose to 4.8 per cent in September 2026, up from 4.4 per cent in August, the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) released by the Statistical Service disclosed on Tuesday.
The rising costs incurred by producers before consumer prices for goods and services for September was driven mainly by higher prices in the mining and manufacturing sectors.
The rate was also higher than the 3.2 per cent recorded a year ago, while the monthly pace of increased slowed to 1.3 per cent in September compared with August 2.5 per cent recorded in August 2026.
Figures provided by the Service indicated that the industrial sector, excluding construction, recorded the highest annual inflation rate among the major sectors at 7.2 per cent, up from 6.3 per cent in August.
Construction also recorded a slight increase to 4.7 per cent from 4.5 per cent, while services slowed to 1.4 per cent from 1.8 per cent.
Mining and quarrying remained the biggest contributor to producer inflation, recording a 5.5 per cent inflation rate and accounted for about half of the overall producer inflation recorded in September.
A key driver of the increase was the extraction of crude oil and natural gas, where producer prices rose by 18.3 per cent during the period.
Mining support service activities recorded a 5.3 per cent increase, although other mining and quarrying activities declined by 2.8 per cent with metal ore mining falling by 2.3 per cent.
The manufacturing inflation was 4.6 per cent in September, compared with 3.6 per cent in August and 1.7 per cent a year earlier, as mining and manufacturing together accounted for more than 80 per cent of the overall producer inflation rate.
Within manufacturing, the highest price increases were recorded in leather and related products, fabricated metal products, furniture, machinery and equipment, and basic metals.
Electricity and gas prices eased to 9.8 per cent in September from 12.3 per cent in August, while water supply and waste management equally slowed to 8.3 per cent from 10.1 per cent during the same period.
Construction sector inflation rose steadily, driven by building activities at seven per cent, followed by specialised works at 4.8 per cent and civil engineering, with a rate of 3.7 per cent.
In the services sector, overall inflation remained low at 1.4 percent, but land transport, motion picture and television production, air transport, and warehousing services observed increases.
Transport and storage prices rose by 5.8 per cent in September, marking a turnaround from September 2025, when the sector experienced a decline of 8.2 per cent, highlighting renewed cost pressures within transport-related activities.
During a virtual presentation of the figures on Tuesday, Dr Alhassan Iddrisu, Government Statistician, said producer prices served as an important indicator of cost pressures in the economy.
He said the index measured changes in prices at the factory gate before goods reached shops and consumers,adding that “businesses can use these data to plant costs and prices. Households can use them to plant budgets.”
He called for a close watching of the upward trends becauseincreases in production costs can eventually affect retail prices.
Dr Iddrisu asked businesses to use the information to plan costs and pricing strategies, while policymakers monitored the data to identify emerging pressures in sectors such as mining, manufacturing and energy.
The Ghana Statistical Service said the September figures were based on price information collected from 603 businesses covering 2,639 products across the country.
The agency reaffirmed its commitment to providing timely and reliable statistics to support economic planning and decision-making.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Francis Ntow