A five cedis note still buys a ball of kenkey in many parts of Ghana. In some cases, it may also buy a modest serving of waakye or a scoop of rice if the seller has a long standing relationship with you, although many vendors now charge significantly more for both waakye and rice. On the surface, prices appear unchanged. Yet for many consumers, something feels different. The kenkey no longer fills the palm. The waakye parcel looks lighter. The fish is smaller. The shito is reduced to a thin smear. Increasingly, what appears to be price stability is, in reality, a rise in the cost of food hidden in plain sight.
Economists have a name for this phenomenon: shrinkflation. It occurs when producers or sellers reduce the quantity of a product while keeping its selling price unchanged. Rather than charging consumers more money outright, they quietly give them less for the same amount. The effect is identical to a price increase because consumers pay the same amount but receive less value.
Although shrinkflation is often associated with packaged foods in supermarkets, where chocolate bars, cereals or beverages become smaller while prices remain unchanged, the practice is just as relevant in Ghana’s informal food economy. Unlike supermarkets, however, roadside food vendors rarely measure portions using standard units such as grams or kilograms. A serving is determined by the size of a ladle, the shape of a hand, the dimensions of a mould or the discretion of the seller. This makes quantity reductions difficult for consumers to detect and almost impossible to challenge.
The economic forces driving this trend are straightforward. Food vendors operate on extremely narrow profit margins. The prices of maize, beans, rice, cooking oil, vegetables, charcoal, cooking gas, transport, packaging materials and labour fluctuate regularly. Whenever these production costs rise, vendors face a difficult business decision. They can either increase the selling price and risk losing customers or maintain the same price while reducing the quantity served.
For many small businesses, the second option appears less risky.
Behavioural economists have long observed that consumers react more strongly to visible price increases than to reductions in quantity. A customer who sees kenkey rise from GH¢5 to GH¢7 may immediately complain or decide to buy elsewhere. Yet the same customer may accept a noticeably smaller ball of kenkey without immediately calculating that they are paying more per bite than before. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development notes that effective consumer protection depends on ensuring consumers have adequate information to make informed purchasing decisions, because transparency is essential for fair competition and consumer welfare.
The mathematics behind shrinkflation is often overlooked. If a ball of kenkey previously weighed 500 grams and sold for GH¢5, the customer paid one pesewa per gram. If the size falls to 400 grams while the price remains GH¢5, the effective price becomes 1.25 pesewas per gram. Although the cash price has not changed, the consumer is effectively paying 25 percent more for the same food.
This silent increase matters because millions of Ghanaians purchase meals from informal food vendors every day. Office workers, commercial drivers, artisans, traders, students and market women rely on affordable street food as part of their daily survival. Even modest reductions in portion sizes can significantly affect household purchasing power over time.
The issue also raises important questions about how inflation is experienced. Ghana’s Consumer Price Index measures changes in the prices households pay for goods and services. While this provides an important picture of inflation, consumers often experience rising living costs through changes in quality or quantity that are harder to capture when prices themselves remain unchanged. Recent work by the Ghana Statistical Service to standardise commonly used market units such as basins, bundles and olonka reflects growing recognition that non-standard measurements can affect both market transparency and the quality of national statistics. Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu said the initiative is intended to improve consistency in market transactions and strengthen price measurement because many commonly used market units have never been standardised.
The consequences extend beyond individual meals.
In the short term, consumers receive less food for the same income, forcing many households to spend more frequently or reduce consumption altogether. Workers who depend on a single lunch during the day may find themselves hungry before evening. Families operating within tight budgets may have to purchase additional portions, stretching already limited incomes.
Over the longer term, persistent shrinkflation gradually erodes purchasing power even during periods when headline inflation appears to be moderating. Businesses also face reputational risks. Customers who repeatedly perceive declining value may lose trust in particular vendors or even entire markets, creating uncertainty in the informal food sector where reputation remains one of the strongest competitive advantages.
The solution is not simply to blame food vendors. Many are themselves victims of rising operating costs and volatile input prices. Addressing the problem requires broader efforts to improve food supply chains, reduce transport costs, stabilise agricultural production and strengthen macroeconomic stability. Continued investment in market standardisation, transparent pricing and consumer education can also help buyers better understand what they are paying for and encourage fairer competition among sellers.
Ultimately, the shrinking ball of kenkey is more than a lunchtime complaint. It is a signal about the real cost of living. It reveals how inflation can disguise itself in everyday transactions, especially where goods are sold without standard measurements. In an economy where every cedi counts, a smaller serving is not merely a smaller meal. It is a quieter, less visible increase in the price every Ghanaian pays.
