Ghana: Foodstuff prices shoots up by 50%

Prices of most basic foodstuffs have shot up drastically over the last one year. The prices of some of the foodstuffs have risen as much as 50% from January 2015 to date. A market survey con­ducted by The Finder at major markets in Accra re­vealed significant hikes in prices of foodstuffs such as vegetables, tubers, cereals, and canned and frozen foods. At the Agbogbloshie market, this paper gathered that a sack of maize, which used to sell at ₵140 as of January last year, now sells at ₵220 while an ‘olonka’ of gari sells at ₵6.50; it was sold at ₵3.50 a year ago. The price of beans de­pends on the country of ori­gin. A cup of beans from Ghana, Nigeria and Togo now sells at ₵7, ₵12 and ₵8.50 respectively. Previously, the same item sold at ₵5, ₵10 and ₵6 respectively. A medium tuber of yam (Puna) now sells at ₵5, as against ₵3 in January 2015.

 For plantain, five fingers now sell for ₵5, com­pared to ₵3 this time last year. Sugar, a common com­modity consumed in many homes, now sells at ₵1.60 per cup, as against ₵1.20 last year January. At the Makola Market, cow feet, popularly called ‘Kotodwe,’ now sells be­tween ₵20 and ₵25 depending on the size, al­most double the ₵12 to ₵15 it was sold for in January 2015.

Another important food commodity, tomato now sells at ₵15 per small paint bucket, instead of ₵12 in January last year. The price of a tin of milk jumped from ₵2 to ₵2.50 within the year while 1 litre of cooking oil, which was ₵7 last year January, is now selling at ₵8.50. The price of a carton of frozen chicken thigh rose from ₵75 as of January 2015 to a current price of ₵110 while a carton of frozen chicken thigh (hard) increased from ₵95 to ₵120.

A medium size loaf of bread that was selling at ₵5 last year is now going for ₵7. A carton of frozen fish has increased from ₵230 to ₵300 within the one year period while a pound of salted beef, which was selling at ₵12, now sells at ₵15. The price, of one bar of Key Soap jumped’ from ₵3.80 in January last year to the current price of ₵6. Some of the traders The Finder spoke to attributed the increases to the recent hikes in fuel prices and util­ity tariffs.

They were, however, of the view that customers would soon understand the adjustment as it is no fault of theirs. Customers, on the other hand, are complaining about hard times, but re­main hopeful that the trend of frequent hikes would slow down to enable them survive.

 January inflation rate rises sharply to 19% The Public Utilities Reg­ulatory Commission in December announced a 59.2 per cent increase in electric­ity tariff while water went up to about 89 per cent. In January, fuel prices also went up by 27 per cent. The monthly change rate for January 2016 was 4.6 per cent, compared to the December change of 1.1 per cent.

The food inflation, rate for January was 8.2 per cent, slightly up from the 8.0 per cent recorded in De­cember 2015. On the other hand, the non-food inflation rate for January stood at 25.5 percent from 23.3 percent in December 2015. “The non-food inflation rate (25.5%) is, more than three times higher than the food inflation rate (8.2%).” The inflation rate for im­ported items was 18.7 per dent in January 2016, com­pared to 18.3 per cent in December, while that of lo­cally produced items was 19.1 per cent versus 17.5 per cent for the same, pe­riod.

The main “price drivers” for the non-food inflation rate were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, contributing about 45.5 per cent, while trans­port added 30.8 per cent. The “price drivers” for the food inflation rate were coffee, tea and cocoa, min­eral water, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery, food prod­ucts and vegetables.

Two regions (Ashanti and Greater Accra) recorded inflation rates higher than the national av­erage of 19.0 per cent. The greater Accra Re­gion recorded the highest year-on-year inflation, rate of 23.1 per cent while the Upper East Region recorded, the lowest of 14.1 per cent.

Source: Finder