Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Prof. Charles Ackah, has averred, is inadequate investments in the agricultural sector is the major cause of the country’s high inflation rate underpinned by rising food inflation.
Making the assertion during NorvanReports’ and the Economic Governance Platform’s Twitter Space Discussion themed “Navigating Ghana’s inflation Landscape” on Sunday, Prof. Ackah stated it is about time the country switched from micro, subsistence farming to mechanized-large scale farming to curb food importation and by large reduce high food inflation.
“Agriculture is the major cause of inflation in Ghana, the food sector has become a problem for the country because of inadequate investments in the sector. Food inflation is driving our economy down,” he stated.
Ghana has the highest level of food inflation in the West African sub-region.
On the Continent, Ghana is behind Zimbabwe and South Africa in terms of food inflation.
Ghana is also ranked by the World Bank as the eighth country with the highest food inflation globally.
Headline inflation witnessed a marginal uptick (60bps) year-on-year, climbing to 43.1% in July 2023 compared to the 42.5% figure registered in June.
Month-on-month inflation between June 2023 and July 2023 was 3.6 per cent.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service, Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Inflation which stood at a notable 55.0% played a role in driving the overall inflation figure higher.
Month-on-month food inflation was 3.8% with last month’s food inflation being 54.2%.
On the flip side, Non-Food Inflation maintained its inflation figure of 38.3% during the same period, reflecting a less pronounced but significant inflationary pressure within the sector.
Month-on-month non-food inflation was 3.4% with last month’s non-food inflation being 33.4%.
Inflation, according to a World Bank report, pushed nearly 850,000 Ghanaians into poverty at the end of 2022 year.
Additionally, high inflation significantly worsened food insecurity in the country with a quarter of the population deemed to be food insecure at end-2022.
According to available data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 23% and 44% of Ghana’s population are consumption and multi-dimensionally poor.