The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs Dr. John Kwakye has asked Ghanaians to be prepared for higher food prices in the coming days.
This is on the back of the European Commission extending until September 15 an arrangement whereby five of Ukraine’s EU neighbors can restrict imports of Ukrainian grain.
The Commission, which oversees EU trade policy, said bottlenecks and scarce storage capacity persisted and the mid-September phase-out would allow for improvements in getting grain out of Ukraine and through the transit countries.
Commenting on this development, Dr Kwakye tweeted “Ghana must brace itself for even higher food prices as Ukrainian grain supplies are being once more restricted.”
He further indicated that “It is disappointing that we can’t produce enough local food to reduce food inflation, which exceeded 54% in June, and the general cost of living.”
Food Inflation in Ghana averaged 12.89 percent from 2013 until 2023, reaching an all-time high of 61.00 percent in January of 2023 and a record low of 5.00 percent in July of 2014.