Ghana Jan PPI inflation rises to 23.14 pct

Producer prices in Ghana rose 23.14 percent in January from a year earlier, the country's statistics office said on Wednesday, up from 17.79 percent in December.

The rise may herald a further increase in consumer price inflation for February after January annualised inflation rose to 9.08 percent, its first increase in 19 months, statistics this month showed.

Ghana's producer price index covers total industry: mainly mining and quarrying, manufacturing and utilities.

Ebo Duncan, the government's head of economic statistics, said utilities showed the highest yearly change while the manufacturing sector contributed the highest increase to the monthly change.

The Bank of Ghana's Monetary Policy Committee left its prime policy rate unchanged at 13.5 percent last week.

The committee had also left the rate unchanged at the previous two meetings, in December and September, after cutting it by 150 basis points in July.