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Claim: Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, says that food prices have begun to experience a decline.
Verdict: This is false. Inflation data from the Ghana Statistical Service shows that food prices have constantly risen since August 2024.
Full Text
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Friday, January 3, 2024, presented his final State of the Nation’s Address before leaving office.
Touting the government’s efforts to ease the country’s cost of living situation, Akufo-Addo reported to lawmakers that food prices had begun to decline.
“Encouragingly, food prices have also begun to decline, bringing some relief to households and contributing to a reduction in the overall cost of living,” he said. (See page 10 of the full speech, or from minutes 1:02:30 to 1:02:42 of the livestream).
Several media organisations, including GhanaWeb and TV3, have reported on the president’s claim.
Is Ghana seeing a reduction in food prices? DUBAWA Ghana chose to investigate this claim because it can influence political commentary and discourse.
Verification
On Wednesday, January 8, 2025, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) published the Consumer Price Index for December 2024.
The publication highlights the change over time in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for consumption. The data on inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages showed a consistent rise from 19.1% in August 2024 to 27.8% in December 2024.
Conclusion
Nana Akufo-Addo’s claim that food prices have begun to decline is false. Official inflation data from the Ghana Statistical Service points to a consistent rise in food prices since August 2024.
