Customs data put last year's food and agricultural import bill about 17% below the "about 3.5 billion United States dollars yearly" the finance minister gave on 12 November. The bill was last near that level in 2021, at US$3.47 billion. His US$200m chicken figure is close.
Ghana's recorded imports of food and agricultural products cost GH¢36.46 billion (US$2.90 billion) in 2025, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Ghana's customs data in the UN Comtrade database. That is about 17% below the "about 3.5 billion United States dollars yearly" that Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson cited in an interview on Thursday 12 November, after presenting the 2027 Budget, as reported by MyJoyOnline on 13 November.
The GSS figure, from its 2025 annual trade report published in July, counts every product in customs chapters 01 to 24. That is food, but also drinks, tobacco and animal feed. It was 14.4% of all recorded imports of GH¢253.2 billion.
Rice, sugar and palm and other vegetable oils, which the minister named, are all inside this count. The dollar value in Comtrade is the GSS cedi value converted at the Bank of Ghana's 2025 average rate of about GH¢12.56 to the dollar.
Customs data count only goods declared at the border. Food smuggled or traded informally across land borders is not included, and its value is not known from these sources.
The minister did not say which year or definition he used. On this widest measure, the bill was closest to US$3.5 billion in 2021, at US$3.47 billion. It fell to US$2.41 billion in 2023 and has risen in each year since.
In cedis, GSS says, the bill fell by GH¢2.4 billion in 2025. In dollars it rose by 7.8%, because the cedi was stronger on average than in 2024.
A narrower count that leaves out drinks, tobacco, animal feed and plant materials gives US$2.57 billion for 2025. The US Department of Agriculture's April 2026 grain report on Ghana referred to an "annual $3 billion food import bill".
The Budget itself gives no figure. Statement paragraph 259 and Speech paragraph 123 say only that "Ghana spends billions of dollars each year importing food and agricultural products".
Our 13 November story reported the US$3.5 billion as the minister's annual figure. This piece checks it against the official data.
Figure cited by Forson, 12 Nov 2026 (US$3.5bn)
Recorded customs trade only; excludes informal cross-border trade. Source: Ghana customs data via UN Comtrade; Ghana Statistical Service, 2025 Annual International Merchandise Trade Statistics Report. Food means HS chapters 01 to 24, including drinks, tobacco and animal feed.
The chicken figure holds up
The minister also asked: "Why should we be importing about $200 million of chicken every year?" Comtrade records US$232.4 million of imports of poultry meat and offal (HS 0207) in 2025, up from US$183.2 million in 2024. GSS lists "frozen cuts and offal of fowl" as the second-largest food import of 2025, at GH¢2.84 billion.
His line that "we spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year to bring in vegetables" is not borne out by recorded trade. Imports of all vegetables, roots and tubers in chapter 07 were US$15.3 million in 2025. Processed vegetables, including tomato paste, added US$39.8 million, of which preserved tomatoes were US$29.0 million.
Together that is about US$55 million. The minister linked the vegetables to Burkina Faso.
GSS records GH¢1.3 billion of imports of all goods from Burkina Faso in 2025. Produce that crosses the border without a customs declaration is not counted, so the full figure cannot be confirmed or ruled out from these data.
On X
@tv3_ghana's clip of the interview, viewed about 6,200 times, said in its caption that "Ghana spends approximately $3.5 billion to import food".
What it means
The Budget plans US$3 billion for commercial agriculture, one pillar of the US$10 billion New Economy programme for 2027 to 2030. That four-year sum is about the same as one year of recorded food and agricultural imports. These are planned allocations, not money spent.
Cereals, meat, fats and oils, animal products and fish made up 57.6% of the 2025 food import bill, GSS says. Rice alone was US$323.0 million; our rice imports story looks at the 2030 ban target.
The Ministry of Finance was not asked about the source of the US$3.5 billion figure for this piece. The figure could still be reconciled with a different year, an estimate that includes informal trade, or a broader definition than customs chapters 01 to 24.
Limitations
Values are CIF, which includes freight and insurance. The dollar figures are Comtrade's conversions of Ghana's cedi data at annual average rates. The 2020 data did not load from Comtrade, so the series runs from 2021.
"Food" here follows GSS's own definition, chapters 01 to 24. Customs data miss informal cross-border trade.
Full-year 2026 data are not yet published. The @tv3_ghana video was not re-transcribed; the minister's words are quoted from MyJoyOnline.
Sources: Ghana Statistical Service, 2025 Annual International Merchandise Trade Statistics Report (July 2026). UN Comtrade, Ghana imports by HS chapter and heading, 2021–2025. UN Comtrade, Ghana imports HS 0207, 1006, 2001–2005, 2021 and 2025. Bank of Ghana, interbank exchange rates (2025 monthly averages). MyJoyOnline, 13 Nov 2026. MyJoyOnline, 13 Nov 2026, chicken import bill. Ministry of Finance, 2027 Budget Statement (para 259) and Budget Speech (paras 68, 120, 123), 12 Nov 2026. Ghana News Agency, 13 Nov 2026. Graphic Online, 31 Jul 2026. Adomonline, 31 Jul 2026. USDA FAS, Grain and Feed Annual 2026, Ghana (GH2026-0011), 3 Apr 2026. @tv3_ghana on X, 13 Nov 2026. StatsGH, 13 November food-imports story. StatsGH, rice imports story.