As part of initiatives to support fair pricing and market transparency, Appiah Kusi Adomako, Director of CUTS International, has asked the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to be more proactive in monitoring and disclosing benchmark prices for necessities.
Following a recent appeal by the Ghana Union of Traders’ Associations (GUTA) to lower prices of goods and services in response to the Ghanaian cedi’s recent strengthening against the US dollar and other major currencies, he made these remarks.
GUTA urged its members to adjust their prices to reflect the better macroeconomic climate and hailed the cedi’s recovery as a “timely and welcome” development.
On Monday, May 12, 2025, Mr. Adomako responded to the development on the Citi Breakfast Show. He acknowledged the excellent intentions behind GUTA’s appeal, but he pointed out that market reaction and transparency would be key factors in determining its success.
By keeping an eye on port pricing, accounting for taxes and profit margins, and releasing benchmark prices for frequently purchased commodities that are available to the public, he suggested that the GSS take the initiative.
“It may or may not work, but one way for the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), is that they can start taking note and monitoring the pricing structure from the port, add all taxes and margins on it, and start publishing recommended prices of goods and services that people normally consume,” he said.
He clarified that in order to make the statistics more applicable and useful for regular consumers, it should concentrate on items that are part of the national consumption basket that is used to calculate inflation.
“Those items that fall within our consumption bracket they use to calculate inflation. So, once people see the gap between what the GSS has been publishing and what is being charged in the market, it will put more information before the consumers.”
Additionally, Mr. Adomako drew attention to the existing disparity in pricing knowledge between buyers and sellers, contending that greater openness would empower customers and promote more equitable pricing.
“This is because currently, it is more like information asymmetry; the businessmen know more about the prices and the price buildup than the consumer.”
He illustrated his point with a practical example: “For example, if a consumer goes to the market to buy a product worth Ghc10, such a consumer will have to pay for that or go to a cheaper place. But if the GSS shows to the consumer that after adding taxes and merging to it, the bottle of water should not cost above Ghc6. That information would also cause the businesses to start coming closer to what the GSS has published.”
In his closing remarks, Mr. Adomako emphasized the significance of real-time price monitoring and publication and urged the GSS to intensify its work during this time of currency strength.
“So, in this period, we need to see the work of the Ghana Statistical Service in terms of price monitoring and price publication,” he stated.