Government’s temporary petroleum relief measures and a stable exchange rate have helped contain inflationary pressures amid global market volatility.
The measures have cushioned households and businesses from international crude oil price shocks that could otherwise have triggered sharper increases in transport fares and the prices of goods and services.
Dr Alhassan Iddrisu, Government Statistician, said this in response to questions from the Ghana News Agency after presenting the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) and inflation figures for July 2026 in Accra.
He said but for the Government’s fuel subsidy and the Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy interventions to stabilise the cedi, prices of goods and services could have escalated, imposing hardship on consumers.
Government introduced a one-month fuel relief in April 2026, absorbing GHS2 per litre on diesel and GHS0.36 on petrol, before reducing the diesel support to GHS1.07 for two months in May and subsequently restoring the GHS2 support for one month in August.
Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, Finance Minister, in the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review, said the cedi had stabilised and retained its 2025 gains into the first half of 2026, with the stable exchange rate helping to anchor inflation at 5.3 per cent.
“The first time we saw increases in crude oil prices because of the Middle East war, we saw prices jump from around US$80 per barrel to over US$100 and that was very biting,” the Government Statistician said.
He, however, said the targeted government intervention had effectively shielded households and businesses from international crude oil shocks that would otherwise have triggered aggressive increases in commercial transport fares.
“If you watch transportation, even though you see positive inflation, you don’t see very strong movement in terms of the increase to commiserate with the increases we have seen in the prices of crude oil in the international market,” he said.
“Transportation depends on spare parts that are imported into the country. So, when you have a stable exchange rate, it positively impact on the prices of these items that are imported and affects transportation,” he added.
Dr Iddrisu said containing petroleum prices also helped keep the cost of transporting perishable commodities, including fresh vegetables and other staples, relatively predictable, thereby moderating fluctuations in headline inflation.
He said while short-term subsidy measures could provide relief to fixed-income earners, their effectiveness ultimately depended on the structural integration of local transport logistics and overall fiscal sustainability.
Dr Iddrisu urged policymakers and economic planners to assess petroleum relief mechanisms from both short-term macroeconomic stabilisation and long-term structural efficiency perspectives, particularly in the energy and transport sectors.
He also urged the Government to complement temporary fuel relief measures with targeted investments in domestic food storage, agricultural logistics and transit infrastructure to reduce structural reliance on emergency subsidies.
Dr Iddrisu advised households and commercial enterprises to remain mindful of underlying transport cost dynamics when planning operational expenditures, noting that statistical evidence remained an important guide to understanding economic shifts.
He reiterated the commitment of the GSS to providing objective, high-frequency and transparent data to help State agencies, businesses and economic analysts assess the transmission of fiscal interventions to public living standards