(Bloomberg) -- Ghana's inflation rate exceeded the central bank's target band for a second straight month, raising pressure on its monetary policy committee to hike interest rates later this month.
Annual inflation accelerated to 11% in October from 10.6% in September, Government Statistician Samuel Kobina Annim told reporters Wednesday in Accra, the capital. The median estimate of six economists in a Bloomberg survey was 10.9%. Prices climbed 0.6% in the month.
Ghana's central bank targets price growth within a range of 6% to 10%. Governor Ernest Addison said at the last MPC meeting in September that the committee stands ready to respond appropriately if there's a higher risk of inflation moving outside the target band. The Bank of Ghana will announce its interest-rate decision on Nov. 22.
The higher inflation rate followed increases in prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and transport, Annim said. Food inflation, which has been the headline number's main driver, slowed to 11% from 11.5% in September while non-food price-growth accelerated to 11% from 9.9%.
Oil prices, which have soared this year to the highest since 2014, and a shortage of fertilizer that is impacting food production, are likely to fan inflation, Agyapomaa Gyeke-Dako, a senior economics lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, said by phone ahead of the release.
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