Claim: The Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana, has claimed that Ghana’s food inflation currently stands at 50%. 

Verdict: False. Data from the Ghana Statistical Service cites 21.5% as food inflation for August 2024.

Full Text 

The Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana, recently claimed that food inflation in Ghana currently stands at 50%. This statement was published by Starrfmonline.com on August 24, 2024. It was made during an interview with a GhOne TV journalist as part of the preparations for the NDC’s manifesto launch in the Central Region, which took place on Saturday, August 24, 2024. The manifesto launch was also streamed on the Facebook page of GHOne TV, where it has since garnered over 55,000 views. The claim can be found from 20 minutes (4 seconds) to 20 minutes, 17 seconds).

In his statement, Sulemana remarked, “Today, as I speak to you, food inflation is over 50%. He (Mr Mahama) handed over this country with about 9.6% of food inflation. Today, look at where we are. He is a farmer; he understands farming and appreciates how to resolve the problems of farmers. And once we do that, I can assure you, within the next 100 days, you will begin to see things changing. And so the person to vote for is Mahama.”

As the 2024 general elections draw closer, verifying these claims has become increasingly important to ensure the credibility of statements being made by various political parties.

Verification

The MP’s comment contains two claims that need to be fact-checked. The first is whether food inflation was 9.6% before the NDC left office in 2016 and whether it currently stands at 50%.

Food inflation refers to the sustained increase in the prices of food items over some time. It measures how expensive food has become, affecting consumers’ purchasing power and overall cost of living.

DUBAWA researched data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Consumer Price Index. This index measures the change over time in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption. Our research found that food inflation in 2016 was 9.7%.

However, the current food inflation stands at 21.5%, not 50%, as the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana, claims.

Conclusion

The claim made by Yusif Sulemana, the Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi that Ghana’s food inflation currently stands at 50% is false. According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the actual food inflation rate for July 2024 is 21.5%. Additionally, the food inflation rate in 2016 was 9.7%, slightly higher than the 9.6% claimed by Sulemana.

Source: dubawa.org