|
Momodou
Denmark
11723 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Sep 2007 : 21:05:09
|
Foreign Currencies Depreciate
As Commodity Prices Stagnate
By Bubacarr K. Sowe
Economic pundits would postulate that the depreciating dollar, pound sterling and Euro currencies will give rise to a drop in basic commodity prices, but a couple of weeks into that period, prices remain the same, if not rising.
“The fall of the foreign currencies is good for us. This will make us sell our commodities at cheaper prices, but the importers are selling at the same high prices to us the retailers,” one Mbai Ceesay told Foroyaa.
This view is shared by a fellow retailer, Muhammed Lamin Sugufara, who said despite the depreciating dollar, the importers have not reduced the prices, thus opening the path for retailers to follow suit.
However, Foroyaa has discovered that there are different rates of exchanging the dollar, pound sterling, euro or other currencies for the dalasi and vice versa.
At one foreign exchange bureau on Sunday, September 18, they were buying the dollar at D19 and selling it at D22.50.
Another exchange bureau in the same neighbourhood does not have a fixed rate for buying the dollar on the same day. A man behind the counter said they buy it at D19 or D19.25 or even D20 and sell the dollar at D22.
At the third foreign exchange bureau Foroyaa found that they were buying the dollar at D18 and selling it at D24.50.
There are also different market prices for the euro. A particular bureau was buying it at D28, another at D27 and the third one at D25. These bureaux were also selling the Euro at D30, D30 and D33, respectively.
The pound sterling was also being bought at D39 or D37 and sold at the same place at D43 and D47, respectively.
“The pound is not steady. We buy it at D39 and sell it at D40,” a currency dealer said.
However, importers of basic commodities do not agree that they should automatically bring commodity prices down.
One said that they have old commodities in stock and cannot simply reduce the price tags when the stocks are not emptied or when new commodities have not been imported.
Another one said the rise in rent, electricity and other costs is increasing thus making it hard for them to reduce prices to bearable levels.
Foroyaa will get in touch with the Central Bank and the Department of state for Finance to find out how they are handling the situation.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 110/2007, 19 -20 September 2007
|
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
|
Topic Locked
