Ghana’s year-on-year inflation rose to 5.0% in August 2026, according to the Ghana Statistical Service. That is 0.4 percentage points higher than the 4.6% recorded in July.
The annual rate went up. The monthly price level did not. GSS figures reported with the release show prices fell about 1% from July to August, after a 0.1% monthly rise in July. Annual inflation compares today’s prices with the same month a year earlier. Month-on-month inflation asks whether the basket got dearer than last month. Both can move in opposite directions.
Where the pressure sits
Food is no longer the main story. Food inflation eased to about 3.0%, from 3.1% in July. Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu said food relief was holding and that services remained the harder problem, at 8.6% against 3.8% for goods.
Non-food inflation rose to 6.8% from 6.1%. Locally produced items and services account for most of the total: inflation on local items was about 6.1%, against about 2.2% for imports, and domestic items contributed roughly 86% of overall inflation. Housing, water and energy alone drove nearly 30% of the national figure, Iddrisu said. Separate reporting of the same release put transport inflation around 10.5% and housing, water and energy around 10.2%.
If you are trying to read the number against your own bills, the point is not that every price rose in August. It is that services and other home-grown costs are still rising faster than imported goods, even with a calmer exchange-rate backdrop than in the crisis years.
Uneven across the map
The national average hides sharp regional differences. The Central Region recorded the highest regional rate at 11.1%. Reporting of the release also said Ashanti and Greater Accra together accounted for about 64% of national inflation, which matters because those regions carry more weight in the national basket.
The Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee meets later in September. The August split between softer food, low imported inflation and stickier services is the part of this release that will still matter when that meeting opens.