Cost of living survey on Ghana launched

Ghanalert, a Non-governmental organisation that focuses on advancing human rights, has launched an independent "cost of living" survey on Ghana.

The survey addresses how well individual Ghanaians have been faring in their daily socio-economic activities. Sponsored by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the survey identifies the standard of living of average Ghanaians in terms of basic needs as shelter, food, education and health.

It also looks at the differences in living conditions of the urban and rural population while also establish the perception of the general population about the economy in relationship to their individual circumstances over the past years. The survey is however different from the Ghana living standard survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service.

Launching the survey, Mr Victor Selormey, a deputy Minister of Finance welcomed the concept of an independent survey on the economy but said the absence of a clear picture of some of the methodologies used could give distortions to public perception about the economy. He questioned the period of the survey - April saying it was not a period to have a favourable and accurate picture of the economy. He said the month of April is generally known as a bad period, coming at the peak of the lean season when most pockets are dried-up. He therefore called for another survey to be conducted in order to provide an accurate comparative answer along the same objectives that this survey was conducted. The Deputy Minister was upbeat about the timing of the survey, saying it comes a time when the nations major exports have consistently declined while the world market price of crude oil, Ghana's major import kept rising .

Dr Clement Ahiadeke, the consultant for the survey in giving the overview of the project said it was not a comparative study but meant to ascertain the state of conditions of ordinary Ghanaians at a particular time of the year. He explained that another survey would be conducted in the future as a basis for comparison .

Dr Ahiadeke said while various research institutions have attempted to determine poverty levels, actual views and perceptions of the individual in the national economy has hardly been studied. He noted that it was difficult to evaluate if structural adjustment policies have altered families' economic status sufficiently to affect poverty levels for various reasons.