Accra, Sep 11 (IANS): The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on Wednesday announced a further drop in the country's inflation rate to 20.4 per cent in August, 0.5 percentage points lower than the 20.9 per cent recorded a month earlier.

"The slower rate of inflation in August was due to declining food and non-food inflation, coupled with the base-drift effect," said Samuel Annim, the government statistician at the GSS, during the regular monthly briefing.

Compared to July, food inflation declined 2.4 percentage points to 19.1 per cent in August, while non-food inflation increased 1.0 percentage points to 21.5 per cent, Annim added, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, inflation for locally produced and imported items stood at 22.2 per cent and 16.1 per cent, respectively, compared to 23.3 per cent and 15.6 per cent the previous month, the statistician said.

Ghana has been confronted with high inflation in recent years, reaching a record high of 54.1 per cent in December 2022, alongside ballooning public debt and a constantly depreciating local currency.

On July 26, Ghana's central bank maintained its benchmark policy rate at 29 per cent, pledging a vigilant monetary policy stance against high inflation.