Ghana’s easing inflation in December masked sharp price increases in a narrow set of consumer staples, with items such as charcoal, green plantain and ginger accounting for a disproportionate share of the headline rate, according to data presented by Government Statistician Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu.
While headline inflation slowed to 5.4% year on year in December 2025, the lowest since the consumer price index was rebased in 2021, Dr. Iddrisu said more than 40% of that figure was driven by just five items, charcoal, green plantain, smoked herrings, cinema and cultural services, and ginger.
“These are items that many households consume regularly, so changes in their prices have a strong impact on inflation,” he said during a briefing in Accra.
Among the highest individual price increases, ginger recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 76.7%, followed by green plantain at 69.4% and charcoal at 66.8%. Cinema and cultural services rose 49.3%, while avocado prices increased 42.8%. Together, these five items contributed about one-third of overall inflation in December, despite the broader slowdown in price growth across the economy.
The data underline a shift in inflation dynamics, with pressures increasingly concentrated in a limited number of products rather than spread across the consumption basket. Dr. Iddrisu noted that this concentration provides clearer signals for policymakers seeking to contain inflation.
At the same time, sharp price declines in other food items helped pull inflation lower. Garden eggs, tomatoes, fried fish, pawpaw and cabbage recorded year-on-year price drops ranging from more than 40% to over 50%, collectively subtracting about eight percentage points from the headline inflation rate.
The contrasting trends highlight the uneven nature of price movements even as overall inflation eases. Dr. Iddrisu said the pattern suggests that targeted interventions, particularly in food supply chains and energy-related inputs such as charcoal, could have an outsized impact on stabilizing prices.
“Overall inflation pressures are increasingly concentrated in a few key items,” he said, adding that understanding these contributors is critical to sustaining the disinflation trend as Ghana enters 2026.
