By Mabinty M. Kamara
Citizens have complained about the difficult economic situation of the country during the Christmas season. Most of the people who spoke to Politico blamed the difficulty on inflation, exchange rate and taxes.
The Christmas season which coincides with the end of the year, is a popular time for festivities in Sierra Leone. During this period, businesses expect sales to increase, but that has not been the case this year.
A businesswoman at Sani Abacha Street, Kadiatu Koroma, told Politico that even to make sales during this month has not been easy.
“Don’t be carried away by this crowd, you see people coming and asking for goods, but they will not buy because they think it’s expensive, which is not our fault. In fact it starts right from the dollar exchange rate, in the end we too must make ends meet by selling it at a price that we can in the end gain something,” she said.
Koroma deals in female dresses. Businesses like hers’ have been affected by the fluctuating exchange rate.
Two weeks ago the value of the Leone against the US Dollar stood between Le 985, 000 to Le990, 000 for US$100. But the exchange rate has since risen again. As of Tuesday, the dollar rate against the value of the Leone is Le 1,030,000 for US$100.
Dresses aren’t the only things that are expensive around markets in the country. Perhaps the brunt of the price hike has been rubbed off on food commodities. Rice, which is the staple food of Sierra Leone, now sells from Le1, 500 to Le2, 000 per cup.
A 50Kg bag of rice cost between Le240, 000 and Le300, 000, which is half of the current minimum wage in the country.
Mahamoud Bah is a shop owner that deals in food commodities around Fourah Bay Road in Freetown. Like many other traders, Bah is also concerned about the slow pace of sales during these festivities.
He blamed the situation on the increased prices which has been caused by “high taxation.”
“When you bring your goods, a lot of taxes are being levied on them at Water Quay and even the exchange rate is another contributing factor to the problem,” Bah said.
For small businesses like Koroma’s, the problem has been compounded by what she described as “exploitation” by the Metropolitan police.
“They just come and take our goods away. Sometimes they are not even in uniforms and if you don’t follow them immediately, you can’t get all your goods as some goes missing and we are asked to pay Le40, 000 or more [to redeem them]. This is affecting our business. We are currently not making profits and now we are being exploited,” she explained.
Communications Officer at the Freetown City Council, Zainab Kanu said the Council Police were just mounting an operation to decongest the city during the festive season.
“We are intensifying the operation for the festive season, because we have both international and local visitors coming in. It is true that we cannot stop people from getting their livelihoods, since the government or NGOs cannot employ everybody, but we also want Freetown to look like a modern city. We don’t want to see traders scattering their goods everywhere, obstructing traffic,” she said.
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