Ghana’s November 2025 inflation data shows that the country’s cost-of-living pressures continue to stem largely from everyday food staples, household essentials and utility-related expenditures, with charcoal once again emerging as the single biggest driver of consumer price increases.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index breakdown, charcoal topped the list of the 20 largest inflation contributors, after its year-on-year rate jumped to 59.9%, highlighting the persistent cost pressures within household energy sources.
Smoked herrings followed as the second-largest contributor, with inflation rising to 16.6%, reflecting ongoing volatility in processed fish prices.
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Plantain (green) ranked third even after easing to 58.8% remains one of the strongest influencers of food inflation due to sustained supply-side tightness. Non-food items also featured prominently.
Cinema and cultural services placed fourth with a 46.4% inflation rate, highlighting rising leisure and entertainment costs.
Ginger ranked fifth at a striking 94%, one of the steepest increases within the food basket.
Price pressures on large onions (34.7%) made them the sixth-largest contributor, ahead of cooked rice in seventh place, which despite slowing still recorded 10.3% inflation.
Accommodation-related costs continued their upward trend, with hotel and accommodation services taking the eighth position at 15.7%.
Vegetable oil followed in ninth place after moderating to 28.5%, while yam rounded out the top ten with a 13.8% rise. Bread came in eleventh at 10.5%, reinforcing the broad-based nature of food-related inflation.
Prepared foods and other essentials also featured strongly. Kenkey with fried fish ranked twelfth (13.9%), river fish thirteenth (11.3%), and beef fourteenth (13%).
Tomato paste placed fifteenth at 18.4%, highlighting sustained pressure on processed food items.
Utility-related costs re-emerged on the list with re-sold tap water (barrels and jerrycans) taking the sixteenth position at 10.1%.
Secondary school fees followed in seventeenth at 5.9%, ahead of fufu with soup in eighteenth at 14.1%. Refuse disposal ranked nineteenth with a 25.7% increase.
Completing the top 20 list, electricity inflation slowed sharply to 14% year-on-year, significantly easing its contribution relative to the steep hikes recorded earlier in the year.
The November data suggests how deeply inflationary pressures remain embedded across essential consumption categories, while deepening concerns about structural cost drivers in food supply chains, utilities, and household services.
CNR