By Adedapo Adesanya
Ghana’s annual consumer price inflation jumped to 10.6 percent in April from the 7.8 percent recorded in the month of March.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service on Wednesday, the inflation was driven by higher food prices in areas affected by government-ordered coronavirus lockdowns.
Regions affected by the lockdowns last month, including the capital Accra and second city Kumasi, had average rates of inflation 8.81 percent higher than other regions, it said.
Due to the crisis, the government expects the economy to grow by just 1.5 percent this year, the slowest rate in nearly four decades.
This compounds many problem that forecasts show for the country and unemployment is expected to rise above 7.2 percent mark by the end of the election year 2020, according to World Bank report.
With the COVID-19 outbreak, Ghana’s economy maybe hard hit due to the impact on her trading partners in China, Europe and the US especially because of mass production shutdowns and supply chain disruptions and port closures in China.
So far, Ghana has the highest rate of COVID-19 cases in West Africa with more than 5,000 cases.
Dipo Olowookere