Sekondi traders lament over economic challenges

• Posted on October 18, 2022October 18, 2022
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Some traders in the Sekondi Market are lamenting over the current economic challenges and standard of living in the country.

Skyy Power FM’s reporters, Alex Tagoe and Solomon Obeng were at the Sekondi Market on Tuesday, October 18, to interact with some of the traders and find out about the state of business in this time of global economic challenges.

Traders in the second-hand clothing business who spoke to Alex Tagoe indicated business has been downhill since the start of the year, and also the increase in fuel prices and the high rate of the dollar has really affected the business.

A trader said, “I use to buy a bale of second-hand clothes for as low as GHS3000 at the beginning of the year but in less than 9 months, the price has shot up to GHS4200 which is difficult for us now.”

“You know, the bad state of the economy has affected everyone so if the prices of goods keep rising, the people also find it difficult to purchase them. I sell cloth from the bale for GHS10 or less but now I have to sell them GHS30 due to the prices.”

“I am pleading to the government to do something about the prices, and also help in stabilising the dollar to help reduce prices of our products because the dollar is a key factor in our business.”

Traders who sell food products such as vegetables, fish, meat, and processed foods spoke to reporter Solomon Obeng on the state of their business so far.

According to them, the prices of food products have skyrocketed astronomically which is bad for business.

Narrating their ordeal, they indicated since food is an important aspect of our lives, people cannot do without it but they buy in small quantities compared to before.

A trader said. “People don’t use to buy as before, people used to buy food that can last them for a whole week or month, but now, they buy what they can eat in a day which is slowing business a lot. With that, we could sell all of our goods in a week, but now it takes more time to sell them.”

“Since they are food products, they go bad in a very short period and if we don’t sell them quick and that happens, we make no profit and that is bad for business.”