By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Ghana’s informal food trade deficit doubled during the first nine months of 2025, rising from GH¢400 million in the first quarter to GH¢800 million by the third quarter, according to new data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The figures are contained in the GSS’s Informal Cross-Border Trade (ICBT) Report, which tracks unrecorded trade across 206 active border points along Ghana’s land boundaries.
The report highlights Ghana’s growing reliance on informal agricultural imports from neighbouring countries.
According to the GSS, the total value of informal cross-border trade reached GH¢31 billion between January and September 2025, surpassing formal trade with Ghana’s neighbouring countries.
Over the same period, formal trade stood at GH¢20.1 billion. Although Ghana recorded overall trade surpluses with Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, its total regional trade surplus declined significantly.
The report showed that the overall informal trade surplus fell from GH¢665.3 million in the second quarter to GH¢49.3 million in the third quarter, largely due to a widening trade deficit with Togo.
By the third quarter of 2025, food products accounted for 49.4% of all informal imports into Ghana.
The report identified cooking oil, livestock, vegetables and oilseeds as the main commodities contributing to the deficit.
Cooking oil remained the largest informal food import by value, while livestock was sourced mainly from Burkina Faso. Vegetables and oilseeds were largely imported through informal trade routes along Ghana’s border with Togo.
According to the GSS, although informal trade helps address local supply shortages, the growing food trade deficit points to significant revenue losses resulting from unrecorded cross-border transactions.
The report noted that policymakers are using the findings to develop measures, including microcredit schemes, to encourage informal cross-border traders to gradually transition into the formal economy.
