Ghana is ranked 1st by the World Bank with the highest food prices in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022.
According to the Bretton Wood institution’s October 2022 Africa Pulse Report, food prices have since January 1, 2022, gone up by 122 per cent.
Since the start of 2022, food prices have increased sharply in many countries, largely due to the Russian/Ukraine war.
According to the Food Price Index in Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana has recorded very sharp prices in food on the African continent.
Food inflation in Ghana has been high, recording a year-on-year inflation of 34.4 per cent in August 2022, the Ghana Statistical Service disclosed.
On month-on-month basis, inflation was even higher.
The drivers of food inflation in Ghana are oils and fats (67 per cent); fish and other seafood (42.9 per cent); water (42 per cent); cereal products (40 per cent); milk, dairy products and eggs (39.7 per cent), fruits and vegetable juices (37.7 per cent) and live animals and meat (34.5 per cent). All of the items recorded inflation rates higher than the national average of 33.9 per cent.
Overall, the World Bank said inflation breached the ceiling of the central bank target bands for all countries with an explicit nominal anchor.
In Nigeria, headline inflation started the year above the central bank limit of 9.0 per cent and accelerated to 20.5 per cent in August 2022 – the highest since September 2005. Food and fuel prices were the key factors behind the rally in inflation.
Meanwhile, Senegal followed Ghana closely with food price increases of 110 per cent
Uganda is 2nd with 107 per cent increase in food prices.