The prices of Food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded the highest increase of 4.8 percent between April and May 2020, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, according to latest study conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service with support from the United Nations Development Programme.
Known as the COVID 19 Local Economy Tracker, the study looked at 2770 communities and localities in the country.
The Ghana Statistical Service in a statement released on September 29, 2020, disclosed that though across the localities there was a 4.2 percent hike in the prices of almost all products in the country, food and non-alcoholic beverages experienced the highest price increase of 4.8 percent.
“About 72% and 90% of local businesses saw reductions in production and sales respectively. Furthermore, businesses faced labour shortages and high cost of credit during the lockdown. Prices of almost all products increased, with food and non-alcoholic beverages experiencing the highest price increase of 4.8%”.
The Ghana Statistical Service reported that overall, food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed to up to 4.8 percent of increments in prices of commodities, and was followed behind by transport with 4.1 percent and then alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics with 4 percent according to the chart presented by the Service on the increases in prices of commodity group between April to May 2020 by district types.
The statement of the Ghana Statistical Service further asserted that in terms of localities, border districts recorded the highest surge of 6.6 percent in food and non–alcoholic beverages as compared to lockdown districts and other districts which recorded an average of 2.5 percent and 5 percent respectively. Additionally, despite the fact that transport prices followed next to food and non-alcoholic beverages, they were not high in the lockdown districts which recorded a decline of negative 1.9 percent. This reduction was attributed to the restriction on movements in such districts due to the pandemic.
The report also gave information on how Ghanaian localities were given support from the government, individuals and institutions in the face of the pandemic to overcome these very problems it caused in the economy. By their estimation, 71 percent of localities in the country received some form of assistance in this regard with districts under lockdown receiving much more assistance than the other non-lockdown and border districts. This was believed to have been because the lockdown districts additionally received both raw and cooked food as assistance. Personal protective equipment and Veronica buckets were also given out.
The source of the assistance for various localities was reported to have varied for each of the district types. Their findings showed that lockdown districts received up to more than 50 percent of their financial and material assistance from the government and other local government units. The findings also revealed that for border districts assistance from Members of Parliament (MPs) made up a large chunk, about 34.5 percent of the support they received and other districts saw the same, as assistance provided by Members of Parliament was up to as much as 35.1 percent of total support received in the period. The report also credited non-governmental institutions in the state with a part of this assistance, pointing out that churches and philanthropists had been especially beneficial in providing this support.
Overall, the report indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching consequences on the economy and this has resulted in the sudden spikes in food prices and food inflation.
