The annual inflation rate edged slightly to 8.8 percent in March from 8.6 percent in February, the Ghana Statistical Service said on Wednesday.

“This means that the general price level went up by 8.8% over the one year period from March 2011 to March 2012,” Dr Philomena Nyarko, Acting Government Statistician announced the figures at a press conference in Accra.

The monthly change rate for March was 1.2%, a slight dip from the 1.5% registered in February.

She said the food group and non-alcoholic beverages group recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 4.4 percent, with seven sub-groups recording inflation rates higher than the group average of 4.4%

Bread and Cereal, fish and meat are the main contributors to inflation in the food group

The rate of inflation in non-food group was up at 11.4 percent with six sub-groups registering inflation rates higher than the group average.

The main contributors to the 11.4 % non food inflation were transport, furnishings, household equipment, clothing and footwear.

“The non-food inflation rate (11.4%) was more than two and a half times that of the food inflation rate (4.4%),” Dr Nyarko said.

Central region recorded the highest inflation rate of 13.0% while Upper East & Upper West regions had the lowest rate of 6.3%.**