Food vendors have lamented the frequent increases in the prices of food items on the market.
The price of 25-litre cooking oil is said to have jumped from GH¢380 to GH¢1000 within the last three months.
The price of a 25 kg bag of rice has shot up from GH¢195 last year to GH¢390, while a carton of chicken has shot up from GH¢125 per 10 kg in July to GH¢300.
“A carton of frozen chicken used to sell at GH¢260 but now, it is going for GH¢300. If I knew it was going to be increased, I would have bought a lot for storage, but there isn’t money to even make that large purchase”, one seller said.
Some food vendors tell Citi News, they are only in business to keep their customers, as they are making no profits.
“I am unable to increase prices, so it is only a small margin that I have added just to maintain my customers”, another said.
Data from the Ghana Statistical Service for September 2022 showed that, food inflation was 37.8% while non-food inflation was 36.8%.
Inflation for locally produced items was 35.8% while inflation for imported items was 40.7%.
Western Region recorded the highest food inflation (47.0%) and Eastern Region, the highest non-food inflation (42.0%). Eastern Region recorded the overall highest inflation (41.0%) followed closely by Western Region (40.2%) and Greater Accra Region (39.3%).
Transport (68.7%) recorded the highest rate of inflation in the Eastern Region, for food inflation in the Western Region, Fish and Other Seafood had the highest rate of inflation at 64.0%.
More than 90 percent of the sampled items recorded an increase in price.