Middle income earners cutting down on spending

EFFECTS OF RISING COST OF LIVING
It’s not only transportation fares that have gone up in Ghana, but ordinary staples like kenkey, rice, gari, corn, wheat and bread, have all gone up. For the middle income earning man inclined to having dinner with the family outside the home once a week, it’s certainly a trying time.

Keeping a car, providing house keeping money, paying kids school fees, paying utility bills have all become expensive, most people, not only the low income earning ones, say.

To add to the present difficulties is the rising unemployment level in the country, with majority of graduates still parading and walking across the corridors of companies looking for employment, years after completing their education. Academic brilliance is not enough to thrust one unto the job market; a bit of luck has a role to play in this.

Another contentious issue is the wage bill that comes with the job, with most employers paying what looks much more like a slave wage to their employees. The reason is not far fetched: business is not good and in some other cases employers have the notion that they are doing their employees a favour by giving them jobs so they pay them anything.

With the world market price of oil increasing and food prices also shooting up, the economic difficulties many face is getting worse, not least business organizations. Government after rebuffing calls for a review of the tax component of the petroleum pricing, met last Wednesday in an emergency cabinet meeting to review the situation.

At the time if going to press, reports indicated that government is hoping to announce some measures aimed at cushioning the citizenry against the twin problems of petrol price and food price increases. Days before the government meeting, the Ghana Statistical Service announced that April’s Inflation rate was 15.29%, a 1.5% increase over the previous month’s figure. The bane of unemployment is the gain of a few smart people who find it necessary to exploit the situation to their advantage. And this is evidenced by the increasing numbers of job search seminars that are organised by different groups of institutions/individuals in the country. Participants have their hopes always raised at most of these seminars but they later find out their situation is the same.

David Okyere majored in Political Science at the University of Ghana almost four years ago. He runs an internet café set up by his brother. He told the dailyEXPRESS such seminars are not a panacea for one’s ability to land a job.

“I have attended not less than four of such programmes and the same things are repeated over and over again,” he said. “CV writing, how to address the letters, what to say and not say even at a reception.” He however said there are some who have been lucky enough to land jobs after the programme but will not credit that to such seminars.

“I have to shut down, temporarily, one section of the café because of the cost of connectivity,” he said in answer to a question about current economic conditions.

Nightclubs, cinemas and even brothels have seen their prices going up especially within Accra and Tema. Most nightclubs have began reviewing the usual ‘lady’s night’ concept, as specific number of ladies is admitted during club session.

“Our bills have more than doubled and we don’t think it’s feasible to sustain such a pratice,” one of the managers of a popular nightclub in Tema told the dailyEXPRESS. “Attendance has even reduced on our usually popular nights.”

A lady clubber, Naana in a chat said she’s forced to reduce the number of times she goes to the club because it’s becoming too expensive these days.

“I do that twice in a month,” she told me while busily blowing cold air on her newly painted finger nails.

Her boyfriend, she told me, has even cut down on the monthly stipends he hands out to her. But she told dailyEXPRESS she has other alternative means of making up for the reduction.

“Don’t be smart into thinking I’m going to tell you what my options are,” she said, “I’m certainly not sleeping with men if that is what you’re thinking.” According to her, she knows some of her friends who live in rented apartments that are being paid for by their boyfriends. Most of these boyfriends, she revealed, are married men who delight in having “a little something” outside of their matrimonial home.

“Some have vacated their apartments because their sugar daddies are no longer in a position to maintain the expensive nature of the rent which comes with the money they flash around.”

Some brothels have been forced to shut down. The few ones that dare to open even record low patronage, as the number of customers continue to reduce.

“The situation is not the same,” a lady of the night who gave her name only as Melissa told me. She spots a long weave-on, fair in complexion with a pierced nose and three different piercings on both ears. Melissa who described herself as a professional in the sex trade told the dailyEXPRESS owners of brothels have scaled up their prices living them with no chance but to go the same way.

“You can say that is scaring away most clients,” she said while trying to light a cigarette.

“The only reason you have to be here is that you’re compelled by circumstances to hold on to a daily bread,” she intimated.