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Mr Seth Emmanuel Terkper, Minister of Finance, on Wednesday attributed removal of subsidies on petroleum and utilities as the course of the inflation surged in 2013. Inflation moved from 10.1 per cent in January to 11.8 per cent in July and ended the year at 13.5 per cent in December, compared to a rate of 8.8 per cent in 2012. He said this when he presented mid-year review of the National Budget Statement and the Economic policy and Supplementary Budget Estimates of the government for the 2014 fiscal year in Parliament in Accra. He said food inflation for the review period was 7.2 per cent, while non-food inflation was 18.1 per cent. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (35 per cent) and transportation (25.6 per cent) were the main �price drivers� for non-food inflation. Communication recorded the lowest inflation (4.4 per cent) in the subgroup category. The main price drivers for food inflation were mineral water, soft drinks, fruits and vegetable juices, 9.6 per cent, fish and seafood, 8.8 per cent and cereals and products, 7.6 per cent. On monetary developments, the Finance Minister said the annual growth rate of broad money supply (M2+) declined on year-on�year basis. The growth rate reduced to 19.1 per cent as at end-December 2013 from 19.6 per cent at the end of December 2012. Mr Terkper said the growth in M2+ was mainly from growth in Net Domestic Assets (NDA) which was moderated by a decline in Net Foreign Assets (NFA) of the banking system. �While NDA went up by 36.7 per cent, NFA decreased by 19.5 per cent; from the components of NFA, the Bank of Ghana�s holdings went up by 1.1 per cent while that of the commercial banks declined by 123.2 per cent by end-December 2013. �This compares with a decrease in Bank of Ghana, 12.8 per cent and commercial banks, 3.2 per cent holdings in 2012,� he said. He said developments in interest rates for 2013 in general indicated a downward trend on year-on-year basis. The Bank of Ghana Policy Rate which was increased to 16.0 per cent in May 2013 remained unchanged till the end of the year. �The rate on the 91-day and the 182-day Treasury bills went down by 390 and 433 basis points (bps), respectively, from 23.12 per cent and 22.99 per cent at the end of December 2012 to 19.22 per cent and 18.66 per cent at the end of December 2013. �The one-year note, two-year note, three-year and five-year bonds rates decreased from 22.90 per cent, 23 per cent, 21 per cent and 23.00 per cent in December 2012 to 17.0 per cent 16.8 per cent, 19.24 per cent, and 19.04 per cent at the end of December 2013, respectively,� he explained. During the year under review, the Minister said the interbank weighted average rate decreased by 77 bps to 16.34 per cent on year-on-year basis. He said the Deposit Money Banks� average three-month time deposit rate remained unchanged on year-on-year basis at 12.50 per cent as at December 2013. The Savings rate gained 50 bps year-on-years to settle at 5.75 per cent as at December 2013. The average lending rates decreased by 15 bps on year-on�year basis to 25.56 per cent as at December 2013. The spread between the borrowing and lending rates also narrowed from 13.22 per cent at end-December 2012 to 13.06 per cent at end-December 2013. On Exchange Rate Development, Mr Terkper said the Ghana Cedi generally traded weak against the currencies of the major trading partners during the review year. In the Inter-Bank Market, the Ghana Cedi recorded cumulative annual depreciation of 14.6 per cent against the US dollar during the review period. The recorded annual depreciation of 14.6 per cent in 2013 was however lower than the 17.5 per cent annual depreciation recorded in 2012. The Ghana Cedi recorded depreciations of 16.7 per cent and 20.1 per cent against the Pound Sterling and the Euro, respectively, in 2013. On the Forex Bureau Market, the Ghana Cedi also traded weaker against the major currencies and recorded cumulative depreciations of 16.3 per cent, 17.5 per cent and 19.3 per cent against the US dollar, the Pound Sterling and the Euro, respectively. Mr Terkper said fiscal policy outlined in the 2013 Budget aimed to achieve fiscal prudence and debt sustainability by reducing the budget deficit from 11.5 per cent of GDP in 2012 to 9.0 per cent of GDP in 2013. He said the fiscal and other related targets were to be achieved through improved revenue mobilization through the Ghana Revenue Authority�s on-going Modernisation Programme. He said enhancing the efficiency of public expenditures through the on-going Public Financial Management reforms, (including GIFMIS); and reviewing capital expenditures and the strategy for financing them. �Provisional end-year fiscal data for 2013 indicate that both revenue and expenditure were below their respective targets for the year. �However, the shortfall in revenue far exceeded the shortfall in expenditure, resulting in a cash fiscal deficit equivalent to 10.1 per cent of GDP against the original budget target of 9.0 per cent and the revised target of 10.2 per cent.