Accra, Ghana// – President John Mahama takes office with the true price of Kenkey rising at a rate of 35.75% annually, outpacing nationwide headline inflation (23.8%).
The GH¢5 kenkey dominates, GH¢3 kenkey is nearly finished, and GH¢7 kenkey is expanding to more places even as its size is shrinking.
- Two years ago, a person with GH¢2 could find kenkey to eat at a decent number of spots in Accra. These days, even GH¢4 would be a struggle.
- A wide scan of the Accra metropolis showed only one spot, in Teshie, offering kenkey at GH¢3. Meanwhile, roughly one in every six spots now has Kenkey for GH¢7, eight months after that price was first seen on the streets.
- While the most common price is GH¢5, all the kenkey found in the collection period puts the average price of kenkey on the market at GH¢5.07, up from GH¢4.72 in September—indicating an overall shift towards the higher-priced balls.
- As a measure of value for money, the weight of the kenkey one gets for every Ghana cedi has shrunk by roughly half since data collection began in September 2022. For the calendar year 2024, shrinkflation was 27.15%.
- Today, a ball of kenkey weighing approximately the same as a sachet of water would cost GH¢6.19, more than double what it would have been in September 2022 (GH¢3.05).
- Whereas selling prices around town range between GH¢3 and GH¢7, the weight of kenkey a buyer gets at a given price varies starkly. The year ended with a spot in Chorkor as the winner for value. There, that same sachet-water-weight of kenkey would cost only GH¢4.27, but GH¢10.04 at one spot, the worst, in Achimota.
- For consumers interested in which price of kenkey offers the best value overall, the December survey shows that the lower the selling price, the better the value.
As the Mahama government takes the reins of the economy, GH¢5 is the most common reference price for people. Unfortunately for the new government, kenkey sellers appear to have decided to skip GH¢6 and go straight to GH¢7.
Emerging patterns suggest GH₵7 may be the dominant selling price within a year. Furthermore, GH₵8 Kenkey is likely to enter the market by June—unless sellers decide instead to shrink sizes for a little while longer until they feel comfortable charging the nice round figure of…GH₵10.
Die-hard kenkey lovers—who eat the fermented dough for breakfast, lunch, or dinner—are feeling the pinch and are hungry for a reset in the promised 24-hour economy.