While International fertilizer prices continue to return to pre-crisis levels, retail fertilizer prices in many countries show a different trend, increasing in many countries and falling only slowly in others. In Nigeria, for example, prices in local currency are double 2020 prices while in Ghana, prices in local currency are four times as high as […]
While International fertilizer prices continue to return to pre-crisis levels, retail fertilizer prices in many countries show a different trend, increasing in many countries and falling only slowly in others.
In Nigeria, for example, prices in local currency are double 2020 prices while in Ghana, prices in local currency are four times as high as in 2020. Retail prices are starting to decline in other countries such as Kenya and Mozambique, but at a much slower pace than International prices.
These price movements are against a backdrop of worsening financial health in many countries. Both inflation and exchange rates have risen steeply in both Ghana and Nigeria, for example. Other countries such as Kenya face increasing food import bills that are not offset by exports. FOREX reserves are declining in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, public debt is increasing, and the cost of servicing public debt is a substantial drain on government budgets.
Credit repayment risk is an increasing hurdle to private-sector engagement and this is likely to worsen given macroeconomic forecasts, potentially triggering a second fertilizer crisis. Coordinated action is needed by Ministers of Finance and Agriculture to improve food security through improved food autonomy, and by multilateral institutions to de-risk private-sector lending along the supply chain.
