Claim: Chairman of National Democratic Congress, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, claims that Ghana and Nigeria are the only countries with double-digit inflation in West Africa.
DUBAWA has analyzed data from the Statistical offices of some West African countries and has found out that at least The Gambia and Sierra Leone are among countries in the sub-region that currently have a double-digit inflation rate, apart from Ghana and Nigeria.
Full Text
The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, has rejected the government’s assertion that the war between Russia and Ukraine is a contributing factor to the country’s economic downturn.
The Ghana Statistical Service has announced that the country’s year-on-year inflation rate for May 2022 surged to 27.6%, up from the 23.6% recorded in April.
Although the government’s statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, has said that the effects of the war in Ukraine are now telling on Ghana’s inflation, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo disagrees.
In an interview on Ekosiisen, a programme on Accra-based Asempa 94.7FM, the former Eastern Regional Minister claimed that the situation was largely different among other West African countries.
He insists that the country’s rising inflation rate cannot be blamed on the Russia-Ukraine war as Ghana together with Nigeria are the only countries in West Africa with double-digit inflation.
“What is happening in the world? When you look at the countries in West Africa, and you consider their inflation rates, aside from Nigeria with an inflation rate of about 16%, all the remaining have single-digit inflation. Our (Ghana’s) inflation is heading to 28%. Therefore, there is no basis to say that something strange is happening which is why things are getting out of hand,” he said in the Akan language.
Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo’s claim can be found between minutes 1:44:38 to 1:45:03 of the interview which was streamed live on the Facebook page of Asempa 94.7FM.
Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Ghana’s inflation rate for January 2022 was 13.9%.
Verification
To investigate the claim, DUBAWA relied on data from the national statistical office of some West African countries that have been mentioned in media reports to have rising inflation rates.
An April 2022 article published by Business Insider Africa mentioned Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, as among several others in Africa that are “expensive to live in due to high inflation.”
Following this lead, we first checked with Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics. In its April 2022 Consumer Price Index Report (Page 8), it was indicated that “In April 2022, the consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation increased to 16.82 percent on a year-on-year basis.”
Data from Statistics Sierra Leone (Page 2) also indicated that the country’s “annual National Consumer Price Inflation (year-on-year) for April 2022 stood at 22.44%”
On Page 8 of the report from Statistics Sierra Leone, the inflation rates of some selected West African countries were presented. Among these countries was The Gambia.
In the case of The Gambia, it was reported that its inflation rate for April 2022 was 11.69%.
This was confirmed when DUBAWA checked The Gambia Consumer Price Index for April 2022 (Page 3).
Below are the inflation rates of the four West African countries since January 2022.
| Country | January | February | March | April | May |
| Ghana | 13.9% | 15.7% | 19.4% | 23.6% | 27.6% |
| Nigeria | 15.60% | 15.70% | 15.92% | 16.82% | N/A |
| Sierra Leone | 16.65% | 17.59% | 22.06% | 22.44% | N/A |
| The Gambia | 7.81% | 8.35% | 8.20% | 11.69% | N/A |
Conclusion
The claim by Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo that Ghana and Nigeria are the only countries with double-digit inflation rates in West Africa is false. From our findings, at least Sierra Leone and The Gambia are among the countries that currently have a double-digit inflation rate.
