Ghana Makes It On To BBC As The Most Expensive Country To Live In Africa

The BBC has aired a story that revolves around Ghana arguably becoming the most expensive country in Africa to live in due to galloping inflation and depreciation of the cedi.

In a report that saw its reporter touch base at markets in the capital, including the Kaneshie markets, it narrated horror stories about how prices of food products double in the space of days.

“In Africa, Ghana is one of the most expensive countries to live in. prices of goods and services have increased sharply since the beginning of the pandemic and some say the situation is becoming unbearable. Rising fuel and food prices are affecting all parts of the country,” the report opens.

BBC’s West Africa correspondent, Nomsa Maseko, accompanied a food caterer, Mark Imprim, on a shopping visit to the market for ingredients.

The two quickly found out that a bowl of tomatoes that just a week ago sold for Ghc20, had seen a sharp price climb to Ghc40.

Imprim also tells Maseko the box of tomatoes which used to be Ghc1, 200 is now going for Ghc2, 500.

“I used to buy oil in bulk but now I’m even struggling to buy one,” Imprim tells Maseko, adding it has now become virtually impossible to plan a budget for shopping.

Ghana’s problems are mainly the result of a debt conundrum – the Akufo-Addo government has borrowed to a point where the country’s debt to GDP is so high that investors have decided they cannot trust the country to pay back any more money they lend to Ghana.

The constriction of the dollar supply has as a result led to the massive depreciation of the cedi and skyrocketing inflation that has suddenly taken away the value of most people’s savings.

Amidst the chaos, the government has also been piling on the taxes.

Consequently, food prices have more than doubled. Local importers of rice have been forced to cancel import orders from Asia because of the depreciating cedi

As the BBC points out, in the first quarter, the cedi devalued by a whopping 19%.

In early April, Ghana’s inflation shot up to the highest level since 2019 and one of the driving causes of that has been the cost of buying fuel and that in turn has made transport even more expensive, the BBC notes.

It adds that Water prices have also doubled.

All of these have conspired to make Ghana the most expensive place in Africa to live.