By Alusine Fullah
Today, people survive in Sierra Leone by magic. Looking at the minimum wage monthly payment as slated by government, Sierra Leoneans will have to go the extra mile to make ends meet. Moving around in the streets of Freetown, the buzzword is: “Republic of you go Sober”. Yes, it sounds comic, but deeply frustration and hardship bite deep.
Being able to afford food is affected by other financial demands on households, and food is often the first expenditure to be cut when disposable income is tight. As it stands, families in Sierra Leone have been facing increasing pressure on their disposable income in recent months because of the rise in energy bills, petrol prices and background inflation, as well as the cost of food. Benefit levels were uprated by 3.1% in April, a rise far below the March inflation level of 7%. This means many families will simply not have sufficient income to afford enough food.
Soaring food prices (up 5.9% in the past 12 months) are making it increasingly difficult for families to afford the food they need. There is also concern that prices of ‘budget’ ranges of staple foods may have increased at a faster rate, so the impact on low-income families may be worse. The increasing cost of living and rising food prices are likely to mean that people become more reliant on lower cost foods which tend to be calorie-dense and nutrient-poor, further increasing obesity and other diet-related diseases. Reducing food insecurity is essential if the Government is to achieve its Levelling Up mission to improve healthy life expectancy and reduce health disparities. Business people continue to increase prices of goods in the country, given the fact the price of dollars continues to go high.
