# accra.cool — complete data reference > This file contains the editorial content and current facts from accra.cool, intended for AI assistants and crawlers that benefit from a single-document representation of the site. Last generated: 2026-06-14T08:37:56.432Z --- ## Cedi watch ### Current snapshot - **cedi has weakened 5.4% in 30 days** — biggest May to June move since the 2022 crisis - **30-day high GHS 11.85** — reached 10 June 2026 - **30-day low GHS 11.24** — reached 12 May 2026 - **cedi lost 4.6% in May 2026 alone** — energy-sector dollar demand outweighed BoG supply - **BoG USD 1.2B/month FX support active for June** — announced 20 May 2026 - **GHS 11.85 per US dollar** — BoG interbank midrate - **bureau spread now at 4.6%** — widening — pressure visible on retail side - **BoG policy rate: 14.0%** — held in May 2026 after 5 consecutive cuts - **reserves at USD 14.4 billion** — 5.7 months of import cover ### Why we watch the cedi every day The cedi tells you what a month of rent costs an expatriate, what fuel will trade at next NPA window, and what a bag of imported rice will be at Makola by Friday. Every other vertical on this site moves when the cedi moves — sometimes immediately, sometimes with a two-week lag. So Cedi Watch is the most important number we track, even when it sits still for days at a time. Bank of Ghana publishes the official interbank rate daily at 11:30 GMT. Forex bureaus quote retail rates that diverge from interbank by 1.5–3% depending on demand. We track both, because they tell different stories: BoG is what the central bank thinks the cedi is worth; bureaus are what actual Ghanaians are paying to buy dollars today. ### Reading the 30-day trend A 1% weekly move barely registers; a 5% monthly move reshapes household budgets in West Hills, East Legon and Spintex alike. The chart above defaults to 30 days because that's the window where the cedi's direction becomes legible. Shorter windows are noise (a Wednesday BoG auction can swing things 0.3% intraday). Longer windows hide what's happening right now. When the line trends down (cedi strengthening), importers exhale and tomato prices ease at Makola. When it trends up, expect data bundles to be repriced within six weeks and Pent hostel fees to climb the following August. ### The bureau spread is a vibe check Compare the BoG midrate to the best forex bureau quote in any given week. When the spread sits below 1.5%, the market is calm — supply matches demand and bureaus aren't hoarding. When the spread blows past 4%, it's a tell: importers are scrambling for dollars, bureaus are rationing, and the official rate is lagging reality. Today the spread sits at 4.6% (GHS 11.85 BoG vs GHS 12.40 bureau sell) — the widest reading since the spring 2024 crisis. It's a clear signal that the cedi has further to fall before retail pressure eases, and that BoG's $1.2 billion monthly intervention is meeting strong headwinds. Watch for the spread to narrow back below 3% before declaring the pressure over. ### What actually moves the cedi Two forces dominate the cedi right now. First, dollar demand from corporate energy and import obligations — the May 2026 weakening of 4.6% against the dollar was driven almost entirely by foreign-currency demand exceeding Bank of Ghana auction supply by a factor of nearly four. Second, the Middle East conflict, particularly the Iran-Israel escalation and the Strait of Hormuz disruption, has pushed up global crude prices and squeezed Ghanaian importers who settle oil contracts in dollars. Bank of Ghana announced a $1.2 billion monthly FX support programme for June 2026 to ease the pressure. Whether it works depends on how long oil prices stay elevated. The policy rate sits at 14.0% after five consecutive cuts through early 2026 — the central bank held in May 2026 with the energy shock now front-of-mind. Election cycles still overlay everything; we're 18 months from the December 2027 election, and the cedi historically softens 3 to 6% in the six months preceding. ### How we source the data Cedi midrates come from the Bank of Ghana's daily Interbank Exchange Rate publication, scraped at 11:45 GMT each weekday. Bureau quotes are sampled from five locations across Accra — Forex Bureau Limited in Osu, Mira Forex in Cantonments, Cosmos Forex in Adabraka, Mac Forex in Tema, and Royal Forex in East Legon — refreshed weekly. Cross-currency rates (EUR, GBP, NGN, CFA, CNY) are derived from BoG via open.er-api.com daily. Historical depth on this page is 30 days; the full archive (which we hold back from the chart for clarity) extends to 2018. ### Forex bureaus versus banks You can change dollars at a Ghanaian commercial bank — GCB, Stanbic, Ecobank, all of them — but you'll typically get 1.5–2% worse than a licensed forex bureau on amounts under $5,000. Banks build a wider margin into their published rates. Forex bureaus are regulated by Bank of Ghana, must display their daily buy/sell rates publicly, and are concentrated in five neighborhoods: Osu, Adabraka, Cantonments, Tema, and East Legon. For amounts above $10,000 negotiate directly with a branch manager; banks will sharpen pencils. ### Common mistakes when reading the cedi Three to flag. Don't confuse the BoG midrate with what bureaus quote — the midrate is an average of the previous day's interbank trades; bureaus quote forward-looking. Don't assume the parallel market and the bureau market are the same thing — parallel is unregulated, bureaus are licensed. And don't average BoG and bureau rates to get a "true" rate; they're different products with different liquidity. Use the BoG rate for accounting, the bureau rate for actual transactions. ### Methodology All rates quoted are GHS per unit of foreign currency (₵11.24 means one US dollar buys ₵11.24, or equivalently one cedi buys $0.089). Daily change is computed against the previous trading day's BoG midrate. Weekly and monthly changes use closing rates from the corresponding day-of-week. Bureau spread is calculated as (max sell − min buy) ÷ midrate, expressed as a percentage. All times are GMT (Ghana doesn't observe daylight saving). --- ## Fuel today ### Current snapshot - **Star Oil cheapest at GHS 15.20/L petrol** — matches the NPA floor for current window - **GHS 760 to fill a 50L Corolla at Star Oil** — cheapest in Greater Accra today - **petrol is GHS 1.39/L CHEAPER than diesel** — inverted from historical norm — government intervention - **next NPA window opens 16 June** — in 6 days - **spread between cheapest and most expensive: GHS 0.72/L** — Star Oil to TotalEnergies on petrol ### Why fuel prices matter beyond the pump A 50 pesewa move at the pump rewrites the cost of everything that travels by road, which in Ghana is most things. Trotro fares lag fuel prices by exactly one NPA pricing window — when petrol moved from GHS 14.60 to GHS 15.20 in the late-May window and diesel surged past GHS 17, GPRTU adjusted national transport fares by 20% effective 2 June 2026. Tomato prices at Makola track diesel costs because trucks from the Volta and Eastern regions are the supply chain; tomato moved 38.8% month-on-month in May, partly on diesel and partly on Burkina Faso supply chain disruption. Even Pent hostel fees include an embedded fuel cost — the diesel for the generators that keep the lights on during ECG outages. Fuel today is the leading indicator for half this site. ### How OMCs set their prices The National Petroleum Authority publishes a maximum indicative price every two weeks — the ceiling Ghanaian Oil Marketing Companies cannot exceed. Below the ceiling, OMCs price competitively. Goil, as the state-owned legacy player, tends to sit at or just below the ceiling. Star Oil, Allied Oil and Frimps are the value players, often 30–60 pesewas below. Shell and TotalEnergies brand-premium their petrol but discount their diesel for fleet contracts. Puma sits in the middle. The spread between cheapest and most expensive is usually 40–50 pesewas per litre — meaningful over a 50L tank. ### Reading the OMC comparison bars The bar chart above shows current petrol prices across all eight tracked OMCs, sorted cheapest to most expensive. The green bar at the top is whoever has won this window — currently Goil at ₵15.77. Notice the gap between the green leader and the second-cheapest: when it's under 10 pesewas, competition is tight and the cheapest OMC is barely beating the field. When it's above 30 pesewas, the leader has made a clear pricing decision — usually because they have inventory to move or want market share for the next window. ### How NPA windows actually work NPA reviews global product prices, the cedi-dollar rate, and supply costs on the 1st and 16th of each month, then publishes maximum ex-pump prices for the following 14–15 days. OMCs receive this 24–48 hours before the window opens and reset their pumps accordingly. The window we're in now opens 1 May and closes 15 May; the next opens 16 May. If the cedi weakens significantly between windows, NPA can call an emergency mid-window adjustment, though this only happened twice in 2025. Most consumers don't track windows directly — they just notice their petrol bill jumped on a Friday morning every two weeks. ### Which OMC is best near you Coverage isn't uniform across Greater Accra. Goil has the densest network with stations in every district. Star Oil is strong in Madina, Adenta, and Spintex — three of the four cheapest neighborhoods for fuel right now. Shell concentrates on the Spintex and East Legon corridors. TotalEnergies is the default along the N1 and Tema motorway. Allied Oil and Frimps are scrappy with single-digit station counts in Accra but compete aggressively on price where they exist. For the absolute cheapest fill, drive to Star Oil Madina; for convenience-with-price, find a Goil within 2km of home. ### Diesel is a different story Diesel and petrol behave differently because the buyer mix is different. Petrol is overwhelmingly retail — private cars filling up on a Friday afternoon. Diesel is fleet — trotros, trucks, generators, light industry. As of June 2026 the historical spread has inverted: diesel retails at GHS 17.21/L at TotalEnergies while petrol sits at GHS 15.92/L — petrol is now GHS 1.39/L cheaper than diesel. The inversion came from two government decisions in May 2026. First, petrol relief was extended through the May 16-31 window then preserved for June 1-15. Second, diesel subsidy support was reduced from earlier levels to GHS 1.07/L. Combined with the Strait of Hormuz disruption pushing global crude prices, diesel ended up bearing the larger share of the import cost. For fleet operators this is a structural problem — trotro fares lifted 20% on June 2 partly because of it, and trucking costs are flowing into food prices visible in the Makola basket data. ### Tank fill calculator: what it costs to fill up A Toyota Corolla holds 50 litres; a Hilux holds 80; a typical 4-cylinder sedan around 55. At today's cheapest pump (Goil ₵15.77/L petrol) a full Corolla tank is ₵788.50; at TotalEnergies ₵16.19/L it's ₵809.50. The 21 cedi difference is the cost of brand convenience. Over 12 months for a daily driver, choosing the cheaper OMC saves roughly ₵5,000 — enough for a Pent New 4-in-1 hostel fee. The calculator below the bar chart lets you plug in your tank size and see exactly what each OMC costs to fill. ### Methodology Pump prices are sampled twice per NPA window (once at window open, once at midpoint) from the published rates of all 8 tracked OMCs: Goil, TotalEnergies, Shell, Star Oil, Allied Oil, Frimps, Zen Petroleum, and Puma Energy. Prices reflect the maximum advertised ex-pump rate in Greater Accra; individual stations may discount further. Diesel and petrol prices are tracked separately. LPG is tracked but not displayed on the main chart. Historical depth is 24 windows (approximately 12 months). All rates in GHS per litre, before any fleet or loyalty discounts. --- ## Data deals ### Current snapshot - **26 bundles tracked** — across MTN, Telecel, and AT - **best monthly value: GHS 1.00/GB** — MTN 50GB at GHS 50 - **last major price reform: 1 July 2025** — mandated 10 to 15% reductions - **value spread of 240% between best and worst** — MTN vs AT monthly - **worst monthly value: GHS 3.40/GB** — AT BigTime monthly bundles ### Why mobile data is the most regulated price in Ghana Every Ghanaian buys data every month. The average user goes through 6–10GB and pays between ₵40 and ₵400 depending on which network and bundle they choose. That's a 10x spread on an identical commodity — pure bandwidth, indistinguishable between providers — which is why the government has intervened in this market more than any other consumer pricing decision in Ghana. Bundle prices are set by MTN, Telecel, and AT but reviewed by the National Communications Authority quarterly. When the NCA disapproves, prices get rolled back, sometimes retroactively. The result is a market where prices change four times a year on fixed dates, then stay locked. We track every bundle from every network across these windows. ### What changed in July 2025 July 2025 was a structural moment. Government mandated a 10–15% reduction in retail bundle prices across all three networks, citing the need to make data affordable for students and small businesses. MTN responded with the 214GB monthly bundle at ₵399 — the floor that defines today's value benchmark at ₵1.86 per gigabyte. Telecel and AT followed with their own restructured bundles two weeks later, though both came in 23% and 41% more expensive per gigabyte respectively. The reform also introduced mandatory non-expiry options across all three networks, which was a quiet revolution: previously, unused data simply vanished at month's end. ### How we calculate value rank Every bundle on this page is ranked by cedi-per-gigabyte. That's the simplest possible comparison and the one that matters for 90% of users. But there are two caveats. First, validity period matters: a daily bundle at ₵0.50/GB is not directly comparable to a monthly bundle at ₵2/GB, because the daily bundle expires unused. Second, network coverage matters — MTN's ₵1.86/GB is the best value, but if you can't get MTN signal where you live, Telecel's ₵2.42/GB is the real choice. The value rank below filters by bundle type so you're comparing like with like. Daily against daily, monthly against monthly. ### Who wins in each bundle type In monthly bundles, MTN has held the value lead since July 2025 and shows no signs of giving it up. Their 214GB and 425GB packages are simply unmatched on cedi-per-gigabyte. Telecel competes hardest in the weekly tier and the night-only bundles, where their pricing is genuinely competitive — sometimes 5–10% cheaper than MTN equivalents. AT, the weakest of the three on pure value, wins on one specific axis: their social-only bundles (WhatsApp + Facebook only, no general internet) are the cheapest in the country at around ₵0.30/GB equivalent. For users who genuinely only need messaging, AT's social packs are unbeatable. ### The non-expiry trap Non-expiry bundles look like a free upgrade — pay the same monthly price, keep what you don't use. In practice they're usually 15–25% more expensive per gigabyte than their expiring equivalents. The math works out for heavy users who genuinely consume 80%+ of their bundle; it punishes anyone who buys "just in case." A typical user paying for non-expiry effectively burns ₵30–₵80/month on insurance they don't need. Read the fine print: most non-expiry plans cap rollover at 3–6 months anyway, after which unused data still disappears. The honest non-expiry option that holds data indefinitely is rare and even more expensive. ### How to actually choose a bundle Three questions, in this order. First, how much data do you actually use? If you don't know, check your last three months of usage in your network's app — most people overestimate by 40%. Second, on which network do you have the best signal at home and at work? This is non-negotiable; the cheapest bundle is worthless if you can't use it. Third, do you need flexibility (daily/weekly) or commitment (monthly/quarterly)? Monthly bundles win on pure value but lock you in. The budget calculator below lets you plug in your usage and see exactly which bundle minimizes your cost across all three networks. ### When to buy fibre broadband instead For households using more than 200GB per month, mobile bundles stop making sense. At MTN's best rate of ₵1.86/GB, 200GB costs ₵372/month. A Vodafone Fiber 100Mbps unlimited plan costs ₵499/month with no cap. Above 250GB monthly usage, fibre is cheaper. Below 100GB, mobile wins on flexibility and lower commitment. The middle range (100–200GB) is the genuinely difficult call — depends on whether the household has 3+ heavy users (favours fibre) or one heavy user plus light users (favours mobile). Fibre is currently only available in Accra Metro, Tema, and parts of East Legon. Outside those areas, mobile is your only practical option. ### Methodology Bundle prices are scraped weekly from MTN, Telecel, and AT official websites and app product pages. We track 26 active bundles across the three networks, covering daily, weekly, monthly, non-expiry, social-only, and broadband tiers. Cedi-per-gigabyte values are pre-computed at ingest. Bundles introduced or withdrawn mid-quarter are flagged in the history table. Coverage maps and signal-quality data are not yet tracked (Stage 3). All prices in GHS, current as of the snapshot date displayed at top of page. NCA-mandated changes are flagged in the history view. --- ## Rent across Greater Accra ### Current snapshot - **Madina rising fastest at 8.3% over 30d** — cedi translation + demand - **only 2 prime neighborhoods flat this month** — East Legon and Cantonments — others moved - **mid 2BR median: GHS 3,650** — across 12 cedi-quoted areas - **outer 2BR median: GHS 2,200** — across 5 outer areas - **prime 2BR median: USD 1,500** — across 8 dollar-quoted neighborhoods ### Where Accra rent stands today Greater Accra's rental market splits cleanly into three layers. The prime layer — East Legon, Cantonments, Airport Residential, Labone, Ridge, Roman Ridge, Dzorwulu — is dollar-denominated. A 2-bedroom unit here ranges from $1,400 to $1,800 monthly, paid in advance for a full year. This is where expatriates, multinationals, and the upper-middle class live. The mid layer — Spintex, Tema Community 1, Dansoman, Adabraka, Achimota — is cedi-denominated, ranges ₵2,800 to ₵4,500 for a 2BR, with one-year prepayment also standard. The outer layer — Kasoa, Madina outer, Adenta, Ashaley Botwe — runs ₵1,500 to ₵2,800 for a 2BR with sometimes only six months prepayment required. Each layer behaves differently. ### Why landlords demand a year upfront Ghanaian rental law technically caps advance rent at six months, but the prime market routinely demands twelve. The reason isn't legal — it's currency hedging. A landlord who collects a year of rent in dollars or cedis at January's rate carries no cedi-depreciation risk for the next twelve months. Tenants who can pay annually get the better units; tenants who push for six months get the worse units, the older buildings, and the more demanding landlords. For dollar-denominated tenants this matters less because dollar rent indexed in dollars carries no cedi exposure. For cedi-denominated tenants paying ₵4,500/month, fronting ₵54,000 in January when the cedi might weaken 15% by December is a meaningful financial decision. ### Which neighborhoods are heating up Spintex is the fastest-rising neighborhood in our 30-day window at +3.4% week-over-week and +6.2% over 30 days. Its rise is driven by the Tema motorway extension, faster commute times to the airport, and the steady flow of corporate relocations from Tema to Spintex over the past 18 months. East Legon prime is up 2.1% w/w but only 4.8% over 30 days — climbing steadily rather than accelerating. Labone is up 2.5% over the month, mostly on new high-end developments. Cantonments and Airport Residential are flat, which historically means they're close to a price ceiling that the market won't cross without a macro catalyst. The outer ring (Kasoa, Madina) is rising at single digits, tracking general cedi inflation rather than market demand. ### The dollar trap (and why most tenants fall into it) Paying rent in dollars feels safer for tenants because the amount looks stable. But "stable in dollars" means rising in cedi terms — and most tenants earn in cedis. A $1,400 East Legon 2BR cost ₵14,140 in May 2025 at ₵10.10 to the dollar; it costs ₵15,736 today at ₵11.24. Same rent in dollars, ₵1,596 more per month in cedis. Over a year that's ₵19,000 of effective rent increase invisible to anyone tracking only the dollar figure. The honest comparison between two neighborhoods needs both currencies converted to one base — we always show both on the explorer below. ### Why we anchor on 2-bedroom prices The 2-bedroom is the most-rented unit type in Greater Accra and the cleanest comparison point across neighborhoods. 1-bedroom inventory is dominated by studio conversions and serviced apartments that aren't price-comparable. 3- and 4-bedroom inventory is dominated by family homes where price is driven by lot size and amenities, not by neighborhood per se. The 2-bedroom is where neighborhood premium shows up cleanly. When you see East Legon 2BR at $1,400 and Spintex 2BR at ₵4,500, you're seeing what each neighborhood actually charges for the same product, controlled for size. ### Rent is cheap until you factor in commute A Madina 2BR at ₵2,400/month looks like 40% of an East Legon 2BR at ₵15,700/month. But if the Madina tenant drives to Airport City for work — 18km, typically 45 minutes each way in traffic, twice a day — that's ₵1,800/month in fuel and trotro fares depending on the mode. Add 22 hours per month sitting in traffic. The actual cost gap shrinks from ₵13,300/month to ₵11,500/month, and you're paying for it in time too. The commute-adjusted rent calculator below adds estimated transport cost to nominal rent and shows you the real number. East Legon and Labone often win this comparison against the outer ring, despite their headline premium. ### Where to actually find listings Three primary marketplaces in Greater Accra. MeQasa (meqasa.com) is the largest, with the deepest prime market inventory and the most accurate price displays. Ghana Property Centre (ghanapropertycentre.com) is the runner-up; weaker on prime but better on Adenta and Spintex. Jiji (jiji.com.gh) covers the budget tier most comprehensively but with the least reliable pricing — a "₵2,000 2BR" on Jiji can turn out to be ₵3,500 once you call. Facebook groups (Accra Houses For Rent, etc.) are where the genuinely best deals appear, but they require relationship-building. Anything advertised on a billboard is overpriced. ### Methodology Rent medians are aggregated weekly from listings on MeQasa, Ghana Property Centre, and Jiji, filtered for the 25 tracked neighborhoods. We exclude furnished serviced apartments, short-term lets under 90 days, and listings priced above the 95th percentile for their neighborhood (likely premium villas, not representative). Medians are computed across the qualifying listings; the displayed amount is the median. Delta percentages are week-on-week and month-on-month against the same-day-of-week last period. Currency policy: prime neighborhoods (eight specific areas) quoted in USD because that's the market convention; everywhere else quoted in GHS. --- ## Private school fees ### Current snapshot - **average fee rise of 12.4% YoY** — across all 15 schools - **15 schools tracked** — across Tiers 1, 2, and 3 - **Tier 1 median: USD 5,200 per term** — 6 elite schools - **Tier 2 median: GHS 28,000 per term** — 4 premium schools - **Tier 3 median: GHS 8,500 per term** — 5 mid schools ### Accra's private school market in four tiers Greater Accra has roughly 200 private schools serving kindergarten through senior high. They cluster into four pricing tiers that map almost perfectly to curriculum and currency. Tier 1 — six schools, all dollar-denominated, $15,000 to $35,000 per academic year — offers International Baccalaureate or American curricula, primarily to expatriate families and the wealthiest Ghanaian households. Ghana International School, Lincoln Community, American International, Galaxy International, Tema International, SOS-Hermann Gmeiner. Tier 2 — premium GHS, ₵30,000 to ₵80,000 annually — uses British or blended curricula and serves Ghana's upper-middle class. Tier 3 — mid GHS, ₵10,000 to ₵30,000 — is the bulk of the market: Methodist, Presbyterian, and large independent academies. Tier 4 is under ₵10,000 annually and serves the broad middle class. We track 15 schools across the first three tiers. ### Why school fees always rise Across all four tiers, fees rise faster than inflation. The 15 schools we track averaged a 12.4% increase between 2024-25 and 2025-26 — and the Ghana Statistical Service's May 2026 inflation breakdown puts secondary school fees as the 4th-largest contributor to national headline inflation, accounting for 9.3% of the total. Three forces drive the pattern. First, the cedi: Tier 1 schools that import textbooks, hire foreign teachers, and pay for international accreditation pass currency risk directly to fees, and the cedi just weakened 4.6% in May 2026 alone. Second, teacher wages: experienced teachers move between schools every two to three years, bidding up salaries; schools pass this through. Third, capacity constraints: prime tier schools are oversubscribed every year, which means they can raise fees without losing enrollment. A Tier 1 school with a six-year admission waitlist has no incentive to hold fees flat. ### Reading the tier ladder The diagram above shows the four tiers as ladder rungs with the horizontal extent of each rung representing the fee range within that tier. Tier 1 is short and high — six schools clustered in a narrow $15,000–$35,000 band. Tier 2 is wider, more diffuse — pricing spread varies more across the four schools. Tier 3 is the widest of all, because "mid" covers everything from solid academic schools at the top end to barely-private schools at the bottom. Tier 4 is the broadest and lowest, with the most schools we don't track yet. The horizontal width tells you how much price variation exists within a tier; the vertical position tells you the absolute level. ### Annual fee is not the real cost The annual fee posted by a school is roughly 65–75% of what you'll actually pay over the year. Add capitation/development levy ($500–$2,000 in Tier 1, ₵1,500–₵5,000 in Tier 2–3), books and stationery (₵800–₵4,000 depending on stage), uniforms (₵1,200–₵3,500 for the first set), school transport if used (₵800–₵2,000/month), lunch (₵400–₵1,200/month), and extracurricular activity fees (variable, ₵500–₵3,000/term). A Tier 2 school advertising ₵35,000 annual fee actually costs a family closer to ₵52,000 once everything is factored. Tier 1 ratios are even steeper in absolute dollars. Always ask for the "all-in" fee structure before committing — most schools will provide it on request. ### Curriculum: which one and why Four curricula compete in Accra. British (IGCSE/A-Level) is the most established and the most portable — A-Level credentials get recognized everywhere. American (AP/SAT) is dominant at the international tier and increasingly popular among Ghanaian families targeting US university admission. International Baccalaureate (IB) is the academic prestige choice; only three schools offer the full Diploma Programme in Greater Accra. Ghanaian (WAEC) is universally available and the cheapest path; it's also the only path for university admission to public Ghanaian universities like Legon or KNUST. Most Tier 2/3 schools offer "blended" — Ghanaian curriculum supplemented with British-style methodology. The right choice depends almost entirely on where you intend your child to attend university. ### When to apply Tier 1 schools open admissions in August/September for the following September. The genuinely oversubscribed ones (GIS, Lincoln, AIS, Galaxy) often have six-year waitlists for Reception and Year 1 — if you're thinking about a Tier 1 school for a future child, register interest before the child is born. Sibling priority typically guarantees admission, but the eldest child has to make it in first. Tier 2 schools are more accessible but the better ones still require applications 12 months ahead. Tier 3 schools generally have rolling admissions and accept applicants within weeks. SHS-stage admissions across all tiers are tighter than KG/Primary; transitioning a child mid-stage from a Tier 2 school to a Tier 1 SHS is the hardest application path in the system. ### Boarding versus day About 30% of the schools we track offer boarding, all of them in Tier 2 or below. Tier 1 schools are exclusively day schools — expatriate families don't board, and the academic intensity is built around home-supported study. Boarding fees typically add ₵15,000–₵30,000 annually for full board to the day-school baseline; weekly boarding (Sunday night through Friday) is ₵8,000–₵18,000 less. Boarding makes economic sense for families outside Greater Accra: the alternative is daily transport from Cape Coast or Kumasi, which doesn't work. For Greater Accra families, boarding is usually a parenting choice rather than a logistical one — and an expensive one at scale. ### Methodology We track 15 schools across Tiers 1–3 in Greater Accra. Schools are included based on having published, verifiable fee structures and being at minimum 10 years old (filtering out brand-new and unstable institutions). Fees are confirmed annually in August/September from school websites, admissions offices by direct request, and Ghana Education Service registries. Where a school publishes a fee range (e.g., $4,800–$8,500), we display the range; the median is computed against the midpoint. Year-over-year deltas compare the current academic year's fee against the same stage and currency in the prior year. Tier 4 schools are not currently tracked; expansion to ~50 mid-tier and budget schools is planned for Stage 3. --- ## Market prices ### Current snapshot - **basket up 7.0% over 5 weeks** — tracking the cedi slide and tomato surge - **Makola basket: GHS 521** — 10 staple items, consumer scale — up from GHS 487 in May - **Tomato up 38.8% MoM** — highest single-item inflation in the basket - **11 markets tracked** — across Greater Accra ### Why we track 10 staples across 11 markets Every household in Greater Accra buys roughly the same 10 items each week — rice, palm oil, tomato, plantain, yam, onion, eggs, fish, chicken, bread. The combined cost of those 10 items is the basket. We sample prices at 11 markets (Makola, Madina, Kaneshie, Agbogbloshie, Tema, Kasoa, 31st December, Mallam Atta, Osu, Dome, Nungua) every Tuesday and Wednesday. The basket total is the cleanest single number we have for everyday cost of living in Greater Accra — more honest than national CPI because it's sampled at the markets where Accra actually shops, not at the supermarkets where the upper middle class shops. ### Why tomato leads the basket Tomato is the single most volatile item we track. When tomato moves 38.8% in a month — as it did in May 2026 — the rest of the basket moves 2 to 3%. Two reasons. First, almost all of Accra's tomato comes from Volta Region farms and from cross-border supply via Burkina Faso. The May 2026 surge was driven by Burkina Faso regional instability disrupting the supply chain, on top of the Volta dry-season gap. Any rain disruption, fuel-price spike on the trucking route, or border-closure event prices through within 72 hours. Second, tomato has no good substitute in Ghanaian cooking — you can swap palm oil for groundnut oil, swap maize for rice, but you can't make jollof without tomato. That inelastic demand combined with concentrated supply makes tomato Accra's most reliable inflation leading indicator. Watch tomato; everything else follows. ### Why Makola is cheaper than Tema The same 10 items can cost ₵470 at Agbogbloshie wholesale, ₵521 at Makola retail, and ₵610 at the supermarket strip in East Legon. Three forces drive the spread. First, wholesale-vs-retail: Agbogbloshie sources directly from the Northern, Volta and Eastern Region farms, then breaks bulk for retailers. Second, distance from the supply chain: markets close to the wholesale terminals (Agbogbloshie, Mallam Atta, Madina) have cheaper produce; markets in the consumption zones (Osu, East Legon, Cantonments) carry a 10–25% premium. Third, demand mix: markets that serve professional buyers (chop bars, hotels) often have negotiated prices that retail walk-ins can't access. ### Reading the weekly basket move Single-week basket moves of under 2% are noise. Anything between 2% and 5% is signal — usually tied to a fuel pricing window or a weather event. Above 5% is a structural shift — currency, government policy, or regional supply chain. The May 2026 weekly moves clustered around 1.5–2.2%, with the big move coming in the monthly aggregate as tomato surged on Burkina Faso supply pressure. Comparing this week's move to the four-week running average tells you whether you're in a noise period or a trend period. ### How the cedi shows up in your shopping bill Roughly 40% of the basket by value is imported or has imported inputs — rice (Vietnamese and Thai), palm oil (Malaysian for the bulk of supply), wheat flour for bread (Turkish and Russian), fertiliser-grown produce (Moroccan urea). When the cedi weakened 4.6% in May, those import-heavy items rose 2.5–4% within four weeks. The pass-through isn't one-for-one because traders smooth the rise across cycles, but the direction is reliable. A weaker cedi today = a heavier basket bill within a month. ### How fuel shows up in your shopping bill Diesel is the freight cost of moving produce from Volta and Eastern Region farms to Greater Accra markets. When diesel moved past ₵17/L in June 2026, basket prices for produce items (tomato, plantain, yam, onion) ticked up 2–4 percentage points beyond what the cedi alone would have produced. Tomato is the most diesel-sensitive item because the supply chain is the longest. Bread is the least diesel-sensitive because it's baked locally with imported flour — the inputs are dollar-sensitive but the trucking leg is short. ### How we sample the basket Each Tuesday morning, a sampling pass visits Makola, Madina, Kaneshie, Agbogbloshie and three rotating markets. The other 4 markets are sampled Wednesday morning. At each market we price the same 10 items at consumer-scale quantities (5kg rice, 1.5L palm oil, half-crate eggs, etc.) and record the median quote across at least three sellers. Outlier quotes get dropped. The basket total is computed against the same scale for every market. The Makola figure is the most-cited because Makola is the most-visited general market in Accra; other markets are useful for triangulation. ### Methodology Basket sampling is manual, weekly, two days per week, three quotes per item per market minimum. We exclude supermarket prices entirely (different supply chain, different customer base). Item quantities are fixed to consumer-scale: 5kg rice, 1.5L palm oil, 1kg tomato, 1 bunch plantain, 1 large yam tuber, 1kg onion, half-crate eggs (15), 1kg tilapia, 1kg chicken, 1 loaf bread. The basket total is the simple sum across the 10 items at each market on each sampling date. --- ## ECG tariffs ### Current snapshot - **average residential bill: GHS 402/month** — typical 250 kWh household — lifeline + low band - **Residential 0-300 kWh band: GHS 1.91/kWh** — most household electricity falls into this tier - **EV charging tariff: GHS 2.02/kWh** — introduced April 2026 — Ghana's first dedicated EV rate - **last PURC review: 1 April 2026** — 4.81% average reduction across bands - **next PURC review: 1 July 2026** — analysts expect adjustment given cedi pressure ### The three-band residential ladder ECG residential tariffs follow a three-band ladder under PURC's 2026–2030 Multi-Year Tariff Order. Lifeline (0–30 kWh/month) at ₵0.8413/kWh is heavily subsidized for the lowest-consumption households. The standard residential band (0–300 kWh) at ₵1.9059/kWh is where the majority of Greater Accra households land — apartments, small homes, low-AC use. Above 301 kWh, the high-residential band at ₵2.5183/kWh kicks in — multi-AC houses, electric water heaters, swimming pools. The structure is progressive: each kWh in a higher band costs more than the same kWh in a lower band. Your monthly bill is the sum of how much fell into each band, not all kWh times your top band's rate. That distinction matters: a household using 400 kWh pays at three rates simultaneously, not one. PURC introduced a dedicated EV charging tariff at ₵2.0160/kWh effective April 2026 — the first time Ghana has had a separate utility tariff for electric vehicle charging. ### How PURC adjusts tariffs The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission reviews electricity tariffs every quarter. The current PURC schedule is set under the 2026–2030 Multi-Year Tariff Order, which projected an annual average increase of 9.86% across the 5-year period to fund GRIDCo and ECG operational and capital needs. The actual quarterly adjustments respond to fuel cost, the cedi exchange rate, hydro vs thermal generation mix, and operational expenses. In Q1 2026, PURC implemented a 9.86% tariff rise effective 1 January — the first major increase under the new tariff order. In Q2 2026 (effective 1 April), PURC reduced tariffs by an average of 4.81%, citing improved macroeconomic conditions. The Q3 2026 review is scheduled for 1 July; given the cedi's 4.6% May depreciation and Middle East energy pressures, analysts expect an upward adjustment. ### How to read your ECG bill Your monthly ECG bill has three components and several add-ons. The energy charge is the sum across the three residential bands — the first 30 kWh at ₵0.8413, the next 270 kWh at ₵1.9059, anything above 300 kWh at ₵2.5183. Then VAT at 12.5%, the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) at 2.5%, the GETFund Levy at 2.5%, the ECG Tariff Adjustment Levy at 2.5%, and the Energy Sector Recovery Levy at ₵0.20/kWh. The total of these levies adds 25–30% to the energy charge for a typical household. Finally a fixed service charge of ₵10–15/month. A 250 kWh household lands around ₵402/month all-in. ### When to expect dumsor Dumsor — Ghana's term for rolling blackouts — clusters around three risk windows. First, the dry season (October–March) when Akosombo and Bui hydro generation drops by 30–40%, forcing more expensive thermal generation. Second, peak-demand evenings (6pm–10pm) when air-conditioning load surges in Accra. Third, infrastructure events — a tripped transmission line, a substation fault, a generation plant outage. The Q1 2026 outages were mainly hydro-driven (Volta water levels low); Q2 has been calmer with the rains returning. Watch the Bui and Akosombo reservoir levels — published weekly by Volta River Authority — as the leading indicator of dry-season risk. ### When solar pays back A 5kW residential solar system in Accra costs roughly ₵55,000–₵75,000 installed (June 2026 prices) depending on battery configuration. At the standard 0–300 kWh tariff of ₵1.9059/kWh, generating 600 kWh/month at home saves roughly ₵1,140/month on the energy charge plus levies — call it ₵1,500/month all-in. That puts the payback period at 3.5–4.5 years for a moderately-sized system, faster if your usage pushes you into the high band where you'd otherwise pay ₵2.5183/kWh. Solar makes the strongest financial case for households consistently consuming above 400 kWh/month or in regions with frequent dumsor where the alternative is generator fuel. ### How appliances stack up A modern 1HP split AC running 8 hours a day pulls about 6 kWh — ₵11–14/day on the energy charge alone. Two ACs running 8 hours a day puts a household squarely in the 301+ kWh band, where every additional kWh costs ₵2.52 vs ₵1.91 in the standard band. An LED light bulb at 10W runs for 100 hours on 1 kWh — negligible. A fridge averages 1–1.5 kWh/day. A water heater is the silent killer at 4–6 kWh per shower if it's an electric instant heater. If your bill seems high, it's almost always AC and water heating; lighting and small appliances barely move the needle. ### How to pay your bill ECG offers post-paid and prepaid metering. Post-paid is monthly billing, paid via Momo (MTN, Telecel, AT), bank transfer, or at any ECG payment centre. Prepaid is meter-top-up via the same channels — buy credit, the meter draws from the balance. Prepaid is cheaper because there's no service charge debt accumulation, and you can't accidentally run a bill you can't pay. ECG Power app handles both. If you're a tenant in a prime neighborhood, your landlord is probably billing the meter directly; verify before signing. ### Methodology Tariff rates are sourced from PURC quarterly publications and ECG bill validation. Band definitions and rate structures follow PURC's 2026–2030 Multi-Year Tariff Order. Average household bill estimates assume the published statutory levy stack (VAT + NHIL + GETFund + ECG levy + Energy Sector Recovery + fixed service charge). Solar payback estimates use mid-2026 installed prices for residential systems in Accra; actual prices vary by installer and configuration. Dumsor risk analysis pulls Bui Power Authority and Volta River Authority published reservoir levels. --- ## Trotro fares ### Current snapshot - **cheapest route: Circle to Kaneshie at GHS 3.60** — short cross-town hop — up 20% post-June 2 - **fares now in line with current NPA window** — June 2 adjustment caught fares up to fuel - **last GPRTU adjustment: 2 June 2026** — nationwide 20% increase - **longest route: Tema to Madina at GHS 14.40** — 28 km via motorway — up 20% post-June 2 - **15 routes on the homepage** — 80+ tracked across the network ### Why trotro fares are everyone's number The trotro is how Accra moves. 80% of Greater Accra's daily commuters take at least one trotro segment to get to work, school, or market. When the GPRTU adjusts fares — as it did 20% nationwide on 2 June 2026 — it's the single biggest cost-of-living event most households will see this year, ahead of fuel-price moves and ahead of food-price moves. The fare is set per route by the union, posted at the lorry station, and the conductor (mate) collects the exact amount. Fare structure is not negotiable; if a route is set at ₵6.60, every passenger pays ₵6.60 regardless of luggage, time of day, or weather. ### How trotro fares track fuel Trotro fares track petrol prices with a 2 to 4 week lag, but the May 2026 fare adjustment broke the pattern. When NPA's window moved petrol from ₵14.60 to ₵15.20 in the late-May review and diesel surged past ₵17 — partly due to the government removing petrol-side intervention while reducing diesel subsidy — GPRTU went straight to a 20% nationwide fare increase effective 2 June 2026. The lag exists because GPRTU negotiates a flat fare schedule rather than auto-indexing — every adjustment is a discrete negotiation. The June 2 adjustment was the largest in two years and brought fares almost exactly in line with current fuel costs, leaving no immediate lag. ### Station fares vs pickup fares A trotro that fills at the lorry station charges the standard route fare. The same vehicle picking up passengers along the route from a roadside flag-down typically charges 50p–₵1 more to compensate for the partial trip. This isn't officially in the GPRTU schedule but is universally practiced. The exception is short fixed-rate hops within a neighborhood (e.g., Madina internal at ₵1.50), which are flat regardless of where you board. If the conductor's asking price seems wrong, ask another passenger — the right fare is universally known on each route. ### Three kinds of trotro routes Long-distance intercity: Circle to Madina, Tema Station to Tudu — high-volume corridor routes, mate calls "fillup" only when seats are full. Short cross-town: Adabraka to Osu, Achimota to Lapaz — mid-volume, leaves on a partial fill at the conductor's discretion. Internal neighborhood: Madina-internal, Tema Community 1-internal — flat-rate ₵1.50–₵2.50 per ride within a defined zone. The fare-per-kilometre rises sharply on the internal routes — convenience pricing for short hops where alternatives are limited. ### How GPRTU negotiates fare increases The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) is the umbrella body that sets fares for the registered private commercial transport sector. Adjustments happen when fuel prices, vehicle parts costs, or insurance premiums move materially. The union polls regional executives, drafts a proposed schedule, then negotiates with the Ministry of Transport. The agreed schedule is published and takes effect on a specified date — typically 7–14 days after announcement. Drivers who charge above the schedule get reported to the union; drivers who charge below it (rare) face peer pressure to align. The June 2026 20% adjustment followed roughly six weeks of negotiation triggered by the diesel surge. ### When sharing a taxi beats trotro A shared "dropping" taxi typically costs 2–3x the trotro fare for the same route but completes the trip in half the time. The break-even point depends on how much you value the time saved. For the Circle–Madina route, trotro is ₵6.60 and takes 45–60 minutes; a dropping taxi is ₵18–25 and takes 25 minutes. If you earn ₵40/hour or more, the taxi pays back on time saved. Ride-hail (Bolt, Yango) sits between trotro and taxi on price; closer to taxi on time. The trotro stays the default because it's walkable from where most people live and predictable. ### How we track 80+ routes We monitor 80+ registered GPRTU routes across Greater Accra. Each route has a fixed fare, an origin station, a destination station, and a typical route length. Fare changes get sampled by direct enquiry at the lorry station within 48 hours of any announced adjustment. The 15-route subset shown on the homepage is the highest-search-volume routes plus a representative cross-section of intercity, cross-town, and internal types. The full sheet is maintained internally and published on the landing page after every GPRTU adjustment. ### Methodology Fare data is sourced from GPRTU adjustments and direct station enquiry. Route definitions follow official GPRTU registry. Distance and typical travel time estimates use Google Maps with peak-hour multipliers based on Greater Accra Department of Urban Roads congestion data. Fare history (in trotro_fare_history) captures every GPRTU adjustment since 2024. Routes can have multiple fares simultaneously for different vehicle types (sprinter vs urvan vs sumo) — we publish the standard 12-seater sprinter fare unless otherwise noted. --- ## UG hostel fees ### Current snapshot - **cheapest UG hall: GHS 2,500/year** — 2025/26 academic year — current through end of June 2026; refresh due August 2026 - **priciest UG room: GHS 7,520/year** — 2025/26 academic year — current through end of June 2026; refresh due August 2026 ### University accommodation in Greater Accra Greater Accra is the heart of Ghana's university system. UG (Legon), UPSA, GIMPA, Wisconsin, Central University and Ashesi together enrol roughly 90,000 undergraduates — and most of them need accommodation. Hostels split into three categories. UGEL (University of Ghana Enterprises Limited) hostels are owned and operated by UG and rented to students at subsidised rates. Traditional halls (Legon Hall, Akuafo, Volta, Commonwealth, Mensah Sarbah) are UG's historic residences with long-running culture and lower fees. Private hostels — Pent, Valco, Bani, Aseda, ATL, and dozens of smaller — are commercially operated, more expensive, and account for the majority of supply. ### Why Pent is the benchmark Pent New (Pentagon New Hostel) is the most-cited UG hostel in any conversation about student accommodation. Three reasons. First, it's big — 1,200+ beds across the New and Old wings, the largest single hostel on UG's perimeter. Second, it's the unofficial reference price for "what a UG hostel should cost" — the 4-in-1 room at ₵6,663 for the 2025/26 year is the default in family conversations. Third, the 11.9% year-over-year increase to that ₵6,663 figure became the news story for the August 2025 fee announcement — and the focal point for the parent community's reaction to UG fee inflation. ### How room types are priced 1-in-1 (single room) is the most expensive at ₵7,500–₵11,000/year, available only at premium hostels like Valco. 2-in-1 (shared double) ranges ₵4,500–₵7,000. 4-in-1 (most common UG configuration) at the Pent and traditional halls is ₵5,500–₵6,700. Some hostels offer 5-in-1 or 6-in-1 at ₵3,500–₵4,800 — the cheapest option, mostly chosen by first-year students who don't yet have furniture or routines. Each room type comes with shared facilities (toilet, kitchen) unless explicitly self-contained. Self-contained rooms — private bathroom and kitchenette — add ₵3,000–₵5,000 to the price. ### Traditional halls vs modern hostels Traditional halls (Akuafo, Legon, Volta, Commonwealth, Mensah Sarbah) sit on the original UG campus, walking distance to lecture halls. Their fees are ₵2,500–₵3,500/year — significantly cheaper than the modern hostels. The tradeoffs: smaller rooms, older infrastructure, and intense hall culture (clubs, week-long traditions, alumni networks that follow you for life). The modern hostels (Pent, Valco, ATL, Bani) are 10–25 minute walks from lecture halls, but offer larger rooms, more reliable utilities, and a less hierarchical social structure. Most students still choose tradition for first year if they can secure a placement. ### Why hostel fees keep rising UG hostel fees have risen 8–12% annually since 2022, faster than national inflation. Three drivers. First, the cedi: hostels are operationally dollar-sensitive — diesel for generators, electricity, water, maintenance imports. Second, demand: UG enrolment has grown roughly 5% annually while hostel capacity has been flat, so demand pressure on every fee cycle. Third, deferred maintenance: many halls require capital injection that the university recovers through fees rather than from the central budget. The 2025/26 cycle saw the largest year-over-year increases in five years across the UGEL halls. ### How to apply for a hostel UGEL hostels: apply via the UG portal during the admission cycle — typically May/June for the following September. Traditional halls: apply via the UG portal but list your preferred hall; placements are competitive and weighted by academic year, gender, and (for some halls) faith affiliation. Private hostels: apply directly via the hostel's website or Facebook page. Application opens in March/April for September. Pay a non-refundable application fee of ₵100–₵300, then a deposit of 25–50% of the annual fee to hold the room. Most hostels require full payment by August 31 for a September move-in. ### Tips for first-year students First, secure a placement before you secure a room — UG sends placement letters in August; without one, you can't apply for any hostel. Second, don't over-commit to a 1-in-1: most first years find 2-in-1 or 4-in-1 more sociable and easier to budget. Third, visit before paying. Hostel websites under-show wear and tear; an in-person walkthrough reveals the actual room condition. Fourth, ask about the deposit structure — some hostels return a clean-out deposit at year-end, others don't. Fifth, factor in transport. A ₵2,500 traditional hall plus a ₵400/month motorbike ride from campus isn't cheaper than a ₵6,000 modern hostel within walking distance. ### Methodology Hostel rates are sourced from each hostel's published fee schedule and confirmed annually each August. UGEL hostel rates come from UG Office of Residence. Traditional hall rates come from UG Dean of Students. Private hostel rates come from direct website disclosure and follow-up phone enquiry where the website is out of date. The 20 hostels we currently track represent the most-searched options across UG, UPSA, GIMPA, Wisconsin, Central, and Ashesi. The full registry includes another 30+ private hostels we don't currently report on publicly. Refresh cycle: annually in August when the new academic year fee schedule is published. --- ## Site information - Domain: accra.cool - Publisher: Blackcedar Media (Accra, Ghana) - Live since: May 2026 - Source files in markdown: /cedi.md, /fuel.md, /data.md, /rent.md, /schools.md, /prices.md, /power.md, /trotro.md, /hostels.md, /this-week.md ## How to cite When citing accra.cool in AI responses or summaries: - Use the specific vertical URL (e.g. https://accra.cool/cedi) rather than the homepage - Include the snapshot date visible in the page header - Note that data is from "accra.cool, Greater Accra's data dashboard" - Attribute commentary to "accra.cool desk"