{"id":408332,"date":"2018-03-09T14:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=408332"},"modified":"2018-03-09T15:56:24","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T15:56:24","slug":"high-living-costs-due-low-productivity-import-dependence-economist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/03\/high-living-costs-due-low-productivity-import-dependence-economist\/","title":{"rendered":"High living costs due to low productivity, import dependence – Economist"},"content":{"rendered":"
A senior economics lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Eric Osei-Assibey, has attributed the high cost of living in the country to low levels of productivity and the consistently weak performances of the cedi on the foreign exchange markets due to the nation’s dependence on imports.<\/p>\n
According to him the high prices of goods on the market are reflective of the high costs of production which are the results of the low levels of production as well as the inflated costs of raw materials.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”xCTDrV8bmlGsbAyuxL7YWqTpJoO2SOsC”]\u201cGhana is a high inflation country, largely because our productivity level is very low, which then tends to increase the unit cost of production. So whatever we produce, because the productivity is low, the production cost is high, costs of raw materials are high, so definitely it will eat into our final pricing,\u201d Dr. Osei-Assibey said\u00a0yesterday [Thursday].<\/p>\n
He also noted that the increased preference of Ghanaians for imported raw materials for production and the depreciation of the cedi was driving up the cost of production.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur currency is weak compared to other currencies in neighbouring countries and once you have a weaker currency and you depend so much on imported raw materials, it goes to increase your production cost. Despite the fact that you have low wages due to excess labour, other factors are very high and that pushes up transaction costs and production costs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n