PPI inches up

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Story: Boahene Asamoah

THE Producer Price Index (PPI) which measures the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers or the production of goods and services for the month of June inched up b y 1.39 per cent.
This was as a result of the upward increase in the manufacturing index which climbed up by 2.54 per cent.
For the month of May, the all industry index stood at 3.20 per cent.
Announcing the index, the acting Government Statistician, Prof Nicholas N.N. Nsowah-Nuamah, said the utility index did not show any change, whiles the mining index dropped by 4.9 per cent.
He said the mining index continued to fall after decreasing by 3.24 per cent in May this year, adding that “the fall in the June index is accounted for by the decrease for mining of non-ferrous metal ores except uranium and thorium ores of 4.40 per cent, following a similar decline of 3.40 per cent”.
Prof Nsowah-Nuamah said the index for quarrying of stone, sand and clay remained basically the same at 0.03 per cent since the previous quarrying month of May did not change.
The acting Government Statistician explained that the manufacture of plastic products, basic chemicals, wood, cork straw and plating materials, grain mill product, starches and prepared animal feeds spearheaded the rise in the manufacturing index.
He said the manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailer and manufacture of other food products showed high declines in their index.
Prof Nsowah-Nuamah said the utilities which comprised of production and distribution of electricity and water did not change, after it jumped 17.73 per cent in May 2007.
The PPI measures price change from the perspective of the purchaser and contrasts with other measures such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Prices of approximately 950 items are collected from 209 establishments each month.
The PPI indices are available for almost every industry from mining, manufacturing, and the utilities sector of the Ghanaian economy.