Thursday August 4, 2022
Woman selling tea in Guriel/ Ergo
(ERGO) – Salado Ibrahim Ali is about to close down her tea shop due to the rising cost of living in the central Somali town of Adado, where the price of basic commodities has skyrocketed.
“50kg of sugar is now going for $47 dollars, up from $30. The inflation has affected us so much,” said Salado.
Salado’s family moved to Adado late last year from Ado-kibir in Galgadud, 65 kilometres east of the town, after conflict erupted between the Somali army and Al-Shabab.
She sells a cup of tea at $0.15 and says she cannot raise the price as then she would have no customers, as everyone is feeling the pinch. She used to make $5 to $6 a day but business has gone down drastically in the last three months.
Salado has been getting the sugar on credit from a relative’s shop since May and now owes $230. Looking at the current situation, she has no idea how she could get money to settle this debt.
“I didn’t pay the rent for my house for the last three months and it has now accumulated to $75. I sometimes think of going to live in the IDP camps because there no one would ask me for rent,” a frustrated Salado told Radio Ergo’s local reporter.
The rising cost of living has been heavily felt by wage workers in Adado. Abdinoor Mohamed Abdulle, a builder, explains.
“Despite the rising prices of every commodity, our wages are still the same, we earn $12 to $14 a day. The cost of food has gone up, and the price of clothes and charcoal [for cooking] has also risen,” he said
Abdinoor is in disbelief that $350 a month is no longer enough support his family as they used to live on $250 a month.
The tales and the frustrations around the inflation are the same among all the ordinary people in Adado town.
Drivers believe they are the worst hit by the inflation. Said Bashir, a taxi driver, says the fare he charges a passenger barely covers the fuel usage.
“I work the whole day and what I get is not even enough for fuel,” he complained.
Said, who has a family of five, stated that they used to live on $4 a day but their expenses have risen to $7, while there is no change in the amount of food they are eating.
“I used to divide my earnings into three parts, for daily expenses, fuel, and savings. I now have a debt of $800 – forget about saving!” he lamented.