They may not make the evening news, but for many border communities, a gallon of cooking oil, a bag of rice, or a herd of goats is the heartbeat of daily trade, and now, the numbers finally tell their story.
Ghana imported more than GH¢700 million worth of cooking oil, rice, and livestock through informal cross-border trade between October and December 2024, according to a new report by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
These three commodities alone made up a huge chunk of the GH¢7.4 billion total informal trade recorded for the quarter, roughly 4.3 percent of Ghana’s total national trade.
The report, which surveyed 321 border points across ten regions, found that cooking oil topped the list of informal imports at GH¢270 million, followed by mattresses (GH¢171 million), rice (GH¢143 million), and livestock (GH¢159 million).
Food products dominated the informal market, accounting for nearly half of all imports and over 40 percent of exports, a clear sign that Ghana’s border trade isn’t just about business, but about feeding families and fueling livelihoods.
“This data gives visibility to traders and transporters who sustain our local economies but have long operated in the shadows,” said Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu, Government Statistician. “We can now put real value to the movement of goods that keep border economies alive.”
Across the country’s porous borders with Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso, hundreds of traders, many of them women, move goods daily on tricycles, bicycles, motorbikes, and canoes. Their transactions may not pass through customs gates, but they keep shops stocked, markets vibrant, and families employed.
Economists say the findings reveal how informal trade stabilizes food supply and cushions rural communities, especially where formal markets and infrastructure are limited.
Yet, the report also points to challenges: poor storage facilities, harassment at border posts, and a lack of credit support continue to push many traders to operate outside formal systems.
The GSS says integrating informal trade data into national statistics will be crucial for policy design under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), helping Ghana unlock the full potential of its “invisible economy.”
For now, the numbers speak for themselves: billions of cedis changing hands across unofficial routes, small goods, big impact.
