On Friday, 18th March, 2022 I went to the market to purchase some foodstuffs for the family. Among the items I purchased was a gallon of oil which was sold to me for Ghc 290. I decided to go back the following week, that was on Monday, 21st March, 2022 to purchase another gallon of oil from the same seller. To my surprise, the price of the gallon of oil has shot up to Ghc 370. So I asked the oil seller why there's so much increase just within three (3) days and all she said was, “you don't know what is going on in this country”. My curiosity led me there again on Wednesday, 23rd March, 2022 and the price for a gallon of oil has increased again to Ghc 400. I took the pains to ask other sellers and the least of them was Ghc 385. So in the space of less than a week, the price of oil has increased for about Ghc 110 cedis.
I understand that the prices of items have gone up due to the global crisis as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia but it looks like Ghanaian market sellers are taking advantage of this. The little research I have conducted showed how people are lamenting over ridiculous price hiking of goods and items. So it's like you buy something today and the next day you have to pay twice what you paid the previous day.
Is it really due to Russia and Ukraine war or bad governance which has led to economic hardships in the country? If nothing is done about this, it will get to a time that people will be having money but wouldn't be able to buy anything in Ghana.
Apart from recent increase in petrol and diesel prices, the cedi rate against the dollar is also another hard nut to crack. By the way, what has “Gob3" (gari and beans) got to do with the dollar rate? It looks like food venders and market sellers are taking advantage of current situations to hike prices of products and items in the country.
What do you think about this?
By Cecey (Self Media Writer)