Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, Steve Hanke, has debunked claims by the Ghana Statistical Service that the inflation rate of Ghana is currently pegged at 37.2%.
According to Hanke, Ghana’s true inflation figure is 98%, calculated using his “tried and true purchasing power parity method”.
Taking to Twitter, he took aim at the government statistician, Samuel Kobina Annim, and accused him of ignorance.
He tweeted: “Ghana Statistical Service statistician Samuel Kobina Annim casts doubt on my measure of Ghana’s inflation rate. Today, using the tried-and-true purchasing power parity method, I measure inflation in Ghana at 98%/yr. Annim should take notes.”
Ghana Statistical Service statistician Samuel Kobina Annim claims that my measure of inflation for Ghana has a "major weakness." Wrong. Prof. Annim should spend some time with the scientific literature. He should start with Hanke-Bushnell, linked here: https://t.co/9o7UWLeKqM
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) October 15, 2022
Hanke also asked the Ghanaian bureaucrat to educate himself on his method, after Annim told journalists during an interview that the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)’s CPI method of calculating inflation is far superior to Hanke’s PPPM method.
“Ghana Statistical Service statistician Samuel Kobina Annim claims that my measure of inflation for Ghana has a “major weakness.” Wrong. Prof. Annim should spend some time with the scientific literature. He should start with Hanke-Bushnell,” he posted in another tweet.
Ghana Statistical Service statistician Samuel Kobina Annim claims that my measure of inflation for Ghana has a "major weakness." Wrong. Prof. Annim should spend some time with the scientific literature. He should start with Hanke-Bushnell, linked here: https://t.co/9o7UWLeKqM
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) October 15, 2022
His recent rant comes after Government statistician Professor Kwabena Annim dismissed his 98% figure and said their 37.2% calculation is consistent with international best practices.
“Steve Hanke’s approach is not based on the consumer price index, Steve Hanke’s approach is based on the purchasing power parity. Underlying the purchasing power parity is the assumption that price differences between [the] two countries are only the exchange rate,” he said.
“The key difference here is that the CPI approach necessarily requires that you collect data on three variables: prices, quantities and the expenditure weight of these items, and this is at sharp variance with Steve Hanke’s purchasing power parity.
“The premise of the computation both from a data point of view and a scope of data point of view are not the same, so we need not make an attempt to compare that,” Prof Annim explained.
Source: theGhanaianVoice.Com