Chartered Economist, Gideon Amissah has disclosed that it comes as no surprise to him for Ghana to be experiencing the sudden increase in prices of goods within the first 2 weeks after the country recorded its first cases of the novel coronavirus.
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According to him, it is normal for the situation in Ghana now as the country is reacting to fears amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
Explaining the current economic situation in the country on Happy98.9FM’s ‘Happy Morning Show’ he stated, “It is normal for the prices of goods to go up. With the current government directives in place and the debate on a lockdown, Ghanaians are rushing to stock their houses with food items. This has tipped the demand and supply scale leading to the sudden increase in the prices of goods in our markets.”
On his authority, the uncertainty Ghanaians have over a possible lockdown is causing the ‘lockdown’ buying thus creating a high demand for goods which in effect also leads to high prices because demand currently outweighs supply. “There’s a debate as to whether there should be a lockdown or not but because we clearly don’t know the government’s position on this issue, people are being proactive.”
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When asked by host Samuel Eshun if government could intervene and make sure prices are stabilized, he replied in the negative. He proceeded to explain that Ghana is a free market economy and that it would be difficult for government to control prices of goods, especially that of food items which are not manufactured in factories.
“Businesses also see this as the time to make more profits because demand is high,” he added.
The economist, who finds it difficult to support a lockdown fears such an action can bring our economy to a standstill. He also appealed to businesses to tap into their humanness and avoid taking advantage of their fellow Ghanaians at a critical time such as this.
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With talks on social media and various traditional media platforms across the country on the possibility of a lockdown amidst coronavirus fear, prices of goods have shot up.
Happy FM conducting a survey at the Makola market in Accra discovered that, prices of some goods have doubled with others steadily rising after Ghana recorded its first cases of coronavirus on March 12, 2020.
By: Joel Sanco
