Bawumia blames high inflation on Russia-Ukraine war, Covid
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has ascribed the increasing rate of Ghana’s inflation to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the adverse impact of the Covid pandemic.
According to Dr Bawumia, the pandemic resulted in supply chain disruptions which lead to high freight and shipping charges across the globe.
Driving home his argument for the high freight charges, Dr Bawumia averred freight charges increased from $1,460 in 2019 to $9,790 in 2020.
This, he noted, resulted in high prices on the local market.
The country’s inflation rate, he further noted has been further exacerbated by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
According to him, commodity prices have increased due to the war with the price of wheat and fertilizer for instance increasing by 62% and 300% respectively.
Making the assertions above at the Tescon National Conference on Thursday, April 7, 2022, Dr Bawumia averred the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has a direct impact on Ghana’s economy since 60% of the country’s imports of steel, 39% of fertilizer among thers comes from both countries.
Inflation rate, since the middle of 2021 has been on an upward trend increasing from over 13% in January 2022 to 15.7 % in February 2022.
In view of the rising inflation rate, the Bank of Ghana raised its policy rate to 17% to counter the rising inflation rate and force it back its target band of 6-10%.
