By Adiza Bawa
A group of traders at the Makola Market have blamed the trading community for irregular price variabilities in the country.
They condemned the way and manner prices of commodities have been arbitrarily manipulated by traders making life awful for the masses
The prices of some key commodities in the country have been on the rise and the cost of food increased astronomically
The traders also blamed the current economic woes at the marketplace on the international market prices, hikes in petroleum products and the level of Cedi depreciation to foreign currencies.
They called on the trading communities to desist from inflating prices of goods and services to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor.
They encouraged the government to introduce measures with the potential of curbing the current crises in Ghana.
“ The government can do his part. We the people can also do our part to help ourselves. You are selling shoes. If the price is 5cedis, it should be 5cedis. If oil is 20 cedis, it should be 20cedis so that there will be stability in the country. We have to think about ourselves first. So the government will do his part. We also have to do ours”, one trader said.
“ When they go for the goods, they will add different prices to their products because the dollar has gone up. Yesterday, I went to buy slippers for 25 cedis. Today, the price for the same shoe has shot up to 30 cedis. It makes it too hard for us to sell to other people unless we also increase our prices. If the government has a solution, he should help us”, a trader posited.
According to another trader, the government should put money into the system. There is no money in the system. We don’t sell tomatoes with dollars but whatever you say they will tell you the dollar is high that’s why prices are high. It’s very wrong and it needs to be addressed by the president to bring order into the country. He has to sit-up and we are suffering”.
“ All the leaders have embezzled the money, that’s why the country is hard. We are our own enemies. Increasing prices of foodstuffs at exorbitant rates. We are disgracing our own selves” another trader lamented.
The situation:
The prices of some key commodities have been on the rise, and the cost of food and fuel have increased astronomically.
With fuel, in particular, many have blamed it on international market prices, which has been worsened by the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.
Already, Ghanaians are bearing the brunt of the tensions on the price of fuel, which has affected transport fares.
Others have also blamed the situation on the cedi which has depreciated by about 7.6 percent to the dollar from January 1 to February 25 this year.
These factors have in turn had a huge impact on the prices of food.
Recent data by the Ghana Statistical Services showed that food inflation regained its dominance to record 17.4 percent in February out of a national average of 15.7 percent.
Food inflation’s contribution to total inflation increased from 44.2 percent in January 2022 to almost 50 percent in February, 2022 according to reports.