Sammy Gyamfi’s claim Ghana has the highest food inflation among its neighbours false

The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has said Ghana has the highest food inflation among its neighbours.

He made the claim on February 28, 2024, when he appeared on Joy News’ AM show to discuss President Akufo-Addo’s State of the Nation Address.

“Put aside the national currency, as I speak with you, food inflation for last month was 27%. Food inflation under the NDC government was not even up to 12%. Today, food inflation is up to 27.1%. Check our Neighbours; whether it is Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire or Burkina Faso, even the countries that have been overtaken by military juntas, which of them have recorded food inflation of 21%?” he said.

Fact-Check Ghana has verified this claim and presents the findings below.

Claim: “Today, food inflation is up to 27.1%. Check our Neighbours; whether it is Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire or Burkina Faso, even the countries that have been overtaken by military juntas, which of them have recorded food inflation of 21%?”

Explanation

According to a report by Côte d’Ivoire’s National Statistical Institute, the country’s annual headline inflation reduced from 4.4% in December 2023 to 4.2% in January 2024. The report indicated that the downward trend is mainly due to a fall in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (-2.5%), transport (-0.5%) and clothing and footwear (-0.5%).

The food inflation in Burkina Faso, which is under military rule, was 2.60% in January 2024, according to the country’s National Institute of Statistics and Demography.

Although food inflation in the countries mentioned above is far below Ghana’s 27.1%, there are other neighbouring countries with higher food inflation.

Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics in a February 2024 report indicated that the biggest economy on the continent’s food inflation stood at 35.41% in January this year.

“The Food inflation rate in January 2024 was 35.41% on a year-on-year basis, which was 11.10% points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2023 (24.32%). The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers, Oil and fat, Fish, Meat, Fruit, Coffee, Tea, and Cocoa,” the report said.

Sierra Leone’s statistical services also reported that the latest annual national food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation for December 2023 is 57.21%.

From the above, it is clear that although food inflation in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso are below Ghana’s, Nigeria and Sierra Leone have higher food inflation. Therefore, Sammy Gyamfi’s claim that Ghana has the highest food inflation among its neighbours is false.