A Communications Team member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Upper East Region, Solomon TTB, has blamed persistent high prices of some goods on what he describes as opportunistic pricing by some business owners and traders, despite a significant drop in the national inflation rate.
Speaking on A1 Radio, he said that while inflation has reduced to 3.8 percent, some traders have been slow to adjust prices downward in order to maintain high profit margins.
He clarified that inflation measures the rate at which prices increase, not an automatic reduction in prices. However, with the current low rate of increase and falling production costs, he argued that traders have a responsibility to reflect those gains in market prices.
“At least, inflation has dropped drastically to 3.8%. If you don’t want this, what else do you want?” he said. “Inflation does not necessarily mean that prices of goods will not increase. We are talking about the rate of increment.”
According to him, the cost of essential commodities such as maize, rice, fuel, cooking oil and tomatoes has reduced significantly. As a result, producers and food vendors who rely on these inputs should reduce the prices of finished goods, including popular local foods such as kenkey.
He expressed concern that some traders are maintaining high prices even when operational costs have dropped, describing the practice as unfair to consumers and detrimental to the full benefits of government economic interventions.
“At least you go to the market and you realize that the cost of commodities is down. But some businessmen will always want to take undue advantage and make excessive profit. Because of that, some are hesitant in reducing prices,” he said.
TTB maintained that market trends show that prices of major commodities are gradually falling and that sustained economic discipline and public awareness will help curb excessive profiteering.
A1 Radio | 101.1 Mhz | Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith | Bolgatanga
