The Government Statistician, Dr Alhassan Iddrisu, has urged the government to closely track price pressures in mining, manufacturing and energy to anticipate cost increases that could affect businesses, industrial competitiveness and consumer prices.
His recommendation follows an increase in producer price inflation to 4.8% in September 2026 from 4.4% in August, with mining and manufacturing alone accounting for 4.0 percentage points of the overall rate.
The figures highlight the importance of monitoring costs in sectors that influence production, industrial supply chains and the prices businesses charge for goods and services.
Dr Iddrisu made the recommendation at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, October 20, where he also encouraged businesses to use producer price data to guide their pricing and cost-management decisions.
Mining and quarrying contributed 2.4 percentage points to producer inflation in September, representing half of the overall rate. Within the subsector, prices for crude oil and natural gas rose by 18.3% year-on-year.
Manufacturing inflation also accelerated to 4.6% in September from 3.6% in August, making the sector another major contributor to rising producer prices.
Electricity and gas recorded a subsector inflation rate of 9.8%, down from 12.3% in August, although the rate remained elevated.
The Government Statistician said monitoring these developments was important because changes in factory-gate prices could eventually influence prices in retail markets.
“Prices at the factory gate today can shape prices in the shops tomorrow,” he said.
He urged businesses to use the data to plan costs and prices, while households should use prevailing economic conditions to guide their budgets.
Producer price inflation measures changes in the prices producers receive for goods and services before they reach consumers. Although increases do not automatically translate into higher retail prices, sustained cost pressures can affect business margins and pricing decisions.
The September figures therefore provide policymakers with a basis for identifying sectors contributing most to producer inflation and assessing whether cost pressures are likely to spread across the wider economy.
