In order to reduce inflation, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) is urging an end to the price disparity in food items throughout the country.
According to Government Statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, food continues to be a significant factor in inflation, and the presence of price discrepancy between regions and, in certain circumstances, within a region, poses a concern.
This is in line with the findings of the GSS’s first report on food price variance between areas, which documented price differences over time for 10 different food products both within and between regions.
Following the release of the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) and inflation for May 2023, Prof. Annim highlighted some key findings from the study, showing that commodity-specific price disparities exist within and between regions.
Eight of the ten commodities, including beef, bread, cassava, cooking oil, imported rice, milk, millet, plantain, tomato paste, and yam, had bigger regional differences than national differences. The only foodstuffs that varied less within areas than between regions were millet and beef.
Comparing commodities with standard packaging, like milk and tomato paste, to those without, like cassava and plantains, the report found that the former consistently recorded the same median price across regions, while the latter showed significant regional price variations.
Greater Accra Region, Western North, and Ahafo Region had the highest median costs for the chosen food products in April 2023, respectively.
Prof. Annim said that “efforts at driving down inflation may be hastened with the engagement of sub-national governmental agencies,” and the GSS claims that the report’s findings indicate the need for policies to resolve regional food price inequalities.
The paper goes on to say that implementing plans to deal with regional food price inequities will advance food equity for all, contribute to achieving food security, and effectively deal with macroeconomic factors that are influenced by inflation.
According to the GSS, the report’s findings will give stakeholders in the food value chain information they may use to connect observed variances in the unit and median costs to important pricing choices. Information on pricing variations can also be used by homes as a reference.
