Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has explained that the persistent high cost of food items in Ghana is due to unresolved structural challenges in the country’s agricultural value chain, despite the steady drop in inflation.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, the former Minister for Information said while inflation on imported and non-food items has eased significantly, food inflation remains stubbornly high because the key factors driving production costs have not been fully addressed.
“That one you have to look at it from the food and non-food side,” he said. “Imported inflation is tamed, though prices of locally manufactured goods are still a bit high. If you also look at food and non-food, you’ll find out that food inflation has not gone down as much as non-food inflation.”
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah explained that the persistence of high food prices is linked to issues such as access to farm inputs, fertiliser availability, fuel costs, transportation, post-harvest losses, and market margins.
“The things that cause food inflation — how farmers get inputs, fertilisers, fuel for preparing their lands, transportation of food items, the margins that market queens are putting on, storage problems — all those ones have still not been solved,” he said. “That is why food inflation is not taming as quickly as non-food inflation.”
His comments come in the wake of newly released data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) showing that the country’s year-on-year inflation rate fell to 9.4% in September 2025, down from 11.5% in August — the first single-digit inflation figure in four years. The report marks the ninth consecutive monthly decline since the high of 23.8% in December 2024.
The GSS noted that the September figure represents Ghana’s lowest inflation rate since August 2021, a milestone that signals improving macroeconomic stability and easing price pressures on consumers.
According to the report:
• Food inflation dropped to 11.0% in September from 14.8% in August.
• Non-food inflation eased to 8.2% from 8.7%.
• Inflation for locally produced items declined to 10.1%, while imported goods recorded a lower rate of 7.4%.
Despite the positive national trend, regional disparities remain stark. The North East Region recorded the highest inflation at 20.1%, more than double the national average, while Bono East registered the lowest at 1.2%.
Providing additional context, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said the current 9.4% national rate should be viewed within Ghana’s recent inflation history.
He recalled that professional services firm Deloitte had projected in 2024 that inflation would average around 11% in 2025 under the government’s fiscal and monetary recovery measures.
“If you remember, at the end of 2024, Deloitte forecast that this year, 2025, average inflation should be about 11 percent if the NPP government followed its programme. So, this 9.4% — which averages around 17% for the year so far — is an encouraging sign,” he said.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah noted that Ghana had previously managed to reduce inflation to 7.8% in 2018 and 7.1% in 2019, and urged that current gains be consolidated through continued fiscal discipline, improved food supply systems, and stronger market regulation.