Sharp price increases in charcoal, green plantain and ginger drove a disproportionate share of Ghana’s December inflation, even as the headline rate hit its lowest point in four years, government data reveals.
Five items accounted for over 40 percent of the country’s 5.4 percent inflation rate, Government Statistician Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu told reporters Wednesday in Accra. The outsized impact of this handful of products highlights how price pressures have narrowed to specific items rather than spreading across the consumer basket.
Ginger recorded a year on year inflation rate of 76.7 percent, followed by green plantain at 69.4 percent, charcoal at 66.8 percent, cinema and cultural services at 49.3 percent, and avocado pear at 42.8 percent. Collectively, these five items contributed about one third of total inflation in December.
The pattern represents a shift in how inflation affects Ghanaian households. Rather than broad price increases across multiple categories, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) data shows price pressures concentrating in a narrow set of frequently consumed goods.
The top five contributors to inflation were charcoal, green plantain, smoked herrings, cinema and cultural services and ginger, Dr. Iddrisu said. These items appear regularly in household budgets, magnifying their impact on cost of living measurements even as overall inflation declined for the 12th consecutive month.
The concentration creates openings for more targeted interventions. Dr. Iddrisu suggested that policymakers now have clearer targets for price stabilization efforts, particularly in food supply chains and energy related inputs such as charcoal.
Meanwhile, steep declines in other food items helped pull overall inflation lower. Garden eggs fell by 56.7 percent, kontomire dropped by 51.9 percent, fresh tomatoes declined by 39.8 percent, and both cabbage and pawpaw recorded price falls of over 40 percent.
Garden eggs, kontomire, fried fish, gari and cabbage saw price drops of over 40 percent each, collectively pulling inflation down by about eight percentage points, the statistician explained. Without these offsetting declines, headline inflation would have registered considerably higher.
The contrasting movements highlight the uneven nature of price changes across the economy. Food inflation recorded a sharp decline, falling to 4.9 percent in December 2025, down from 6.6 percent in November 2025 and 27.8 percent in December 2024. Food accounts for about 43 percent of household spending in Ghana’s Consumer Price Index (CPI).
On a month to month basis, inflation stood at 0.9 percent between November and December, indicating short term price movements persist despite the longer downward trend. The CPI rose to 261.7 in December from 240.8 a year earlier.
The December figure marks the lowest inflation reading since the CPI was rebased in 2021, representing an 18.4 percentage point reduction from the 23.8 percent recorded in December 2024. The sustained decline signals improving macroeconomic conditions as Ghana emerges from its most severe economic crisis in decades.
Regional variations remained pronounced. The Eastern Region recorded the highest inflation at 11.2 percent, while Savannah Region posted a negative 1.2 percent rate, meaning prices actually fell over the year. These differences reflect variations in supply conditions, transport costs, storage capacity and market access, Dr. Iddrisu noted.
The Bank of Ghana targets inflation of 8 percent, with a tolerance band of 2 percentage points either side. December’s result places the country well below that target range.
Dr. Iddrisu recommended sustained fiscal discipline and increased investment in storage, irrigation and transport infrastructure to address regional price disparities and stabilize prices for the items driving current inflation pressures.
