Ghana’s moderate to high exposure to wheat, fertilizers the cause of food price hikes – World Bank
The World Bank has disclosed that Ghana’s moderate to high exposure to imports of wheat, edible oils and fertilizers from Russia are the main drivers of increases in prices of food stuffs and certain commodities on the market.
According to the latest World Bank African report, Ghana imports about 33% of wheat and a little above 20% of fertilizers from Russia, ranking it among African economies on high dependence on European countries.
The war between Russia-Ukraine has impacted negatively on commodity prices compounding existing challenges in the global food market including increasing prices and tightening supplies due to the covid-19 pandemic among others.
This situation has already pushed inflation rate to a high of 19.4% in March this year with food inflation exceeding 24%.
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The World Bank indicated that Ghana together with Kenya, Mali and Nigeria have moderate to high exposure to wheat imports from Russia.
Again the country together with other African countries including Côte d’Ivoire, have moderate to high exposure to edible oils and fertilizers from Ukraine and Russia.
The report further explained that the impact of the rising global commodity prices on African countries in terms of trade is uncertain.
It however, added that Ghana and many oil importers in the region, will benefit from the rally in global prices for industrial metals.
