Despite a year-long decline in Ghana’s inflation rate, sharp price increases in a handful of everyday items including ginger, green plantain and charcoal were the dominant forces shaping consumer price movements in December 2025, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has revealed.
Presenting the December 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) and inflation figures in Accra, Government Statistician, Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu, said five items alone accounted for nearly one-third of the country’s overall inflation rate of 5.4 percent, underscoring how concentrated price pressures have become, even as headline inflation eases.
“In December 2025, the top five contributors to inflation were charcoal, green plantain, smoked herrings, cinema and cultural services and ginger,” the Government Statistician said, adding that “together these items accounted for over 40 percent of overall inflation. These are items that many households consume regularly, so changes in their prices have a strong impact on inflation.”
According to the data, ginger recorded the highest inflation rate at 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 alone contributed about one-third of the total inflation rate recorded in December.
The December CPI stood at 261.7, up from 248.3 in December 2024, translating into a year-on-year inflation rate of 5.4 percent. This marks the 12th consecutive month of inflation decline and the lowest rate since the CPI was rebased in 2021.
“This result is significant because inflation has now declined for 12 consecutive months. It is also the lowest inflation rate since the CPI was re-based in 2021, signaling a sustained shift toward price stability,” the Government Statistician noted.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation rose by 0.9 percent between November and December 2025, indicating that while long-term inflationary pressures have eased, short-term price movements remain active in specific items.
A closer look at food prices showed a sharp slowdown over the year. Food inflation fell to 4.9 percent in December 2025, down from 27.8 percent a year earlier – a decline of 22.9 percentage points. However, month-on-month food prices rose by 1.1 percent, reflecting seasonal and supply-related pressures.
“This matters because food accounts for about 43 percent of household spending. Lower food inflation directly eases pressure on household budgets, even though short-term price movements are still present,” Dr Iddrisu added.
Non-food inflation also declined to 5.8 percent in December from 20.3 percent a year earlier, while goods inflation slowed sharply to 5.8 percent, down from 23.1 percent in December 2024. Goods make up nearly three-quarters of the CPI basket, making the slowdown particularly impactful for consumers.
Services inflation, however, edged up month-on-month to 4.5 percent in December from 3.8 percent in November, though it remained significantly lower than the 15.4 percent recorded a year earlier.
The GSS data also showed easing inflation for both locally produced and imported items. Inflation for locally produced goods fell to 5.9 percent in December from 26.4 percent a year earlier, while imported items recorded a rate of 4.3 percent, down from 18 percent in December 2024.
Regionally, inflation patterns varied widely. The Eastern Region recorded the highest year-on-year inflation at 11.2 percent, while the Savannah Region posted a negative inflation rate of minus 1.2 percent, meaning prices fell over the year. Three regions—Northern, Western North and Upper East – recorded month-on-month price declines in December.
“These differences reflect variations in supply conditions, transport costs, storage capacity and market access,” Dr. Iddrisu explained.
While a few items pushed inflation upward, several others recorded steep price declines, helping to contain overall inflation. 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.
“This means that without these price drops, inflation would have been higher,” the Government Statistician said.
The Government Statistician stressed that the increasingly concentrated nature of inflation provides policymakers with clearer targets.
“What this tells us is that inflation pressures are now coming from a few key items. If you want to fight inflation, you know exactly where to hit,” Dr. Iddrisu said.
He urged sustained fiscal discipline, targeted investment in storage, irrigation and transport infrastructure, and measures to stabilise food supply chains to further ease price pressures.
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