(Adds details) ACCRA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Ghana’s consumer price inflation was at 9.7% year-on-year in August compared with 9% in the previous month, the West African nation’s statistics service said on Wednesday. August marked the fourth month in a row that inflation has risen in Ghana, with food inflation, the largest contributor to the country’s overall inflation rate, rising for a third straight month. Housing inflation surged past transportation to become the second-largest contributor to Ghana’s inflation rate. Transportation inflation, now the third-largest contributor, also rose last month. “Food contributes more than half to overall inflation, and combined with housing more than two-thirds, and further including transport, more than four-fifths,” Samuel Kobina Annim, head of the statistics office, told a news conference. Despite the steady increases, Ghana’s inflation rate still remains within the Bank of Ghana’s targeted band of 8% plus or minus 2 percentage points. (Reporting by Christian Akorlie; Writing by Cooper Inveen; Editing by Catherine Evans and Alex Richardson) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.