Claim: Ghana experienced the longest period of single-digit inflation in 2018-2019
Source: Alhassan Tampuli (MP for Gushegu)
Verdict: True
Researched by Gifty Danso
The Member of Parliament for the Gushegu Constituency, Alhassan Tampuli, on the November 21, 2025, edition of Good Morning on Metro TV, made claims about inflation figures for 2018 and 2019.
Discussing the 2026 national budget on the show, the opposition legislator, while referring to the government spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu’s earlier submission, said:
“You know, when I hear my good brother speak, it takes me to the period between 2017 and 2019, where all the economic indicators were pointing in the positive direction. Indeed, it was during this same period, 2018-2019, that we achieved the longest period of single-digit inflation of 8% in 2018, and 9% in 2019.” (between 2:14:25 to 2:14:54 of the show, archived.)
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What are the facts on inflation between the two years? Was it the longest period of single-digit inflation Ghana has had in recent years? This fact-check will verify the claims.
Fact-check
GhanaFact relied on reports by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) for 2018, 2019 and 2020.
According to the GSS, inflation is the year-on-year percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), measured in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for consumption. It represents the rate at which the average level of prices for a basket of goods and services is rising over 12 months.
| Month | 2018 inflation (%) | 2019 inflation (%) | 2020 inflation (%) |
| Jan | 10.3 | 9.0 | 7.8 |
| Feb | 10.6 | 9.2 | 7.8 |
| March | 10.4 | 9.3 | 7.8 |
| April | 9.6 | 9.5 | 10.6 |
| May | 9.8 | 9.4 | 11.3 |
| June | 10.0 | 9.1 | 11.2 |
| July | 9.6 | 9.4 | 11.4 |
| Aug | 9.9 | 7.8 | 10.5 |
| Sept | 9.8 | 7.6 | 10.4 |
| Oct | 9.5 | 7.7 | 10.1 |
| November | 9.3 | 8.2 | 9.8 |
| December | 9.4% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| Average = 9.85 | Average = 8.68 |
From the above data, we arrived at the following conclusions:
- Inflation in 2018-2019 was largely within the single-digit band, ending 2018 at 9.4% and 2019 at 7.9%.
- The inflation figures returned to double-digits in April 2020.
- The data shows that single digit inflation lasted 21 months (from July 2018 to March 2020), the longest duration under the Fourth Republic.
We also used data from the IMF’s dashboard to analyze the average annual inflation figures. It showed that since 1999, Ghana’s annual inflation hit single digits five times:
| Year | 2002 | 2011 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| Annual inflation | 9.4 | 8.7 | 7.8 | 7.1 | 9.9 |
From the table above, 2018, 2019 and 2020 was the first time Ghana recorded annual single-digit inflation in three straight consecutive years. We calculated the average rates for the respective years using the GSS data and arrived at single-digit annual inflation of 9.85% and 8.68% for 2018 and 2019 respectively.
GhanaFact also referenced annual inflation data from the International Monetary Fund’s data dashboard and got annual inflation figures of 7.8 and 7.1% for 2018 and 2019, which shows the MP had understated the facts with respect to their data.
Verdict
Tampuli’s claim that 2018 and 2019 produced the longest period of single-digit inflation is rated True. However, the claim that the annual inflation for 2018 stood at 8% and 9% in 2019 per available data is only partly true. We got 9.85% annual inflation for 2018 and 8.68% for 2019 using GSS data.
