2023-07-17 22:16:57
Two months following securing an IMF loan, Ghana is still struggling with the cost of living. The 3 billion dollars granted to Accra by the Bretton Woods institution still has only limited effects. Ghana, hit hard by the double crisis of Covid and the war in Ukraine, saw the inflationary spiral come to a complete halt. However, for consumers, life remains extremely expensive and many are over-indebted.
From our special correspondent in Accra,
In Makola, the center of trade in Ghana, the excitement is daily. But the faces are those of sad days. Inflation rose once more last May, more than 42% over one year. Maria is one of hundreds of food vendors, desperately waiting for a customer. ” You see my bread and butter. Before it was 1.50 cedi now it’s 20 cedi. I spend hours without selling, and it tires me too much! “, she laments.
He too is a man wrung out by the Ghanaian economic crisis. Mickael Blay is a trader who has been established for years in the large second-hand clothing market. The 3 billion dollar loan from the IMF, he has obviously heard of it, but the impact is minimal according to him. “ 1 dollar is worth 11.4 Ghanaian cedis. So nothing has changed. The cedi even rose. The effects of the IMF loan? No, no, no, there has been no change for our daily life. Listen to me carefully: because of the crisis, there is less money in circulation. Prices remain very high. At the monetary level, things are not going well, and the tension is still very strong “, he asserts.
No leeway
But at the macroeconomic level, Accra and the IMF insist that this $3 billion must service Ghana’s debt. In the meantime, the Ghanaian household debt ratio is exploding.
In Kantamanto, Africa’s largest second-hand market, of the 30,000 traders, only 20% make a profit. The vast majority, like Mickael Blay, has no room for manoeuvre. ” We are in debt. Everyone is here. We go to the banks to ask them for a loan to get a cash advance. But the borrowing rates are so high, 35% “, he regrets. “ Just for interest, I pay back 800 cedis per month, 9600 over a year. It’s too much ! And what happens when all your income goes into paying off your loans? I am a father. Tss, life is really hard these days. »
At 40, Mickael Blay and his wife, a bank employee, decided not to have a second child. Also a consequence of the high cost of living in Ghana.
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