GSS report reveals locally produced food items as most affected by inflation
Story by: Olive Gibbon
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has released its January 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report, revealing that food items particularly locally produced ones continue to suffer the impact of inflation.
According to the report, the year-on-year inflation rate for January 2025 stood at 23.5%, indicating that the general price level of goods and services increased by 23.5% between January 2024 and January 2025. Although this marks a slight decline from December’s 23.8%, it remains the second highest inflation rate recorded in the past nine months.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 53.1% of the overall inflation rate, making them the most affected category. Four key groups-food and alcoholic beverages, housing and utilities, transport, clothing and footwear-made up 78.9% of the total inflation rate.
Between December 2024 and January 2025, general price levels rose by 1.7%, resulting in a month-on-month inflation rate of 1.7%. Food prices saw the steep rise, with food inflation hitting 28.3%, compared to 19.2% for non-food items.
The GSS highlighted that specific food groups such as vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, pulses, fruits, and nuts experienced the highest price increases. Yam and tomatoes recorded the sharpest year-on-year and month-on-month price changes, while fresh okro saw the highest month-on-month price spike.
Locally produced items record higher inflation than imports
The report also highlighted the disparity between locally produced and imported goods. Locally produced items saw an inflation rate of 25.7%, while imported items recorded 18.4%. This suggests that factors such as domestic production costs, supply chain challenges, and agricultural output fluctuations are contributing significantly to inflationary pressures.
Regional Disparities in Inflation
Inflation rates varied across regions, with the Upper West Region recording the highest rate, while the Volta Region had the lowest.
Impact of GSS Report
Commenting on how the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) intends to drive action based on these findings, Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, emphasised the agency’s ongoing collaboration with policymakers. He stated that the GSS remains committed to engaging decision-makers from various sectors to address inflationary trends.
Professor Annim also highlighted the strong working relationship between the GSS and the central bank, expressing optimism that efforts to adopt a multi-stakeholder sectoral approach to curbing inflation will gain momentum under the leadership of the newly appointed governor. The GSS report for January 2025 was compiled using price data from 57 markets nationwide, covering 8,337 retail outlets.
