In the list of most expensive countries to live in in 2023, we have prominently listed Switzerland, Singapore, Norway, Iceland, USA, Japan, Luxembourg, Australia, Denmark, United Kingdom, Sweden, Israel, India and many more. They are countries with very high costs of living: a strong enough situation to impact quality of living in a lot of ways. They are also mostly vacation destinations with highest food prices and higher prices for consumer goods and services. However, the sky-high costs of goods and services in these very expensive countries are counterbalanced by perks such as education subsidies, food stamps, very strong wages per hour, good transportation system, reduced income disparities, and other wide-ranging benefits for the people. It is very clear to the managers of these very expensive countries that everything cannot be submitted to business dictates, the market forces, or the laws of demand and supply. There are programmes and tools to temper economic activities, temper inflation, ensure value for money and uphold quality standards of living.
Rising costs of living is one evil that must be tamed by all means possible because of its capacity to destroy quality living, and difficulty in keeping up with the basic necessities of life such as access to medicare, good nutrition, housing, clothing, transportation and utilities. In any country experiencing rising costs of living, even the middle- and high-income classes are not spared. Their incomes become barely sufficient to take care of their daily needs, they can no longer set aside part of their incomes to save or invest, and several indulgence like vacations become luxuries.
Why rising costs of living? The pathetic situation Nigerians currently find themselves have been exacerbated by the energy and power sectors liberalisation and subsidy removal, on one hand, and the unification of the forex market that has unleashed soaring foreign exchange rates with naira at the bashing end, on the other. This much was corroborated by Beth Timmins and Daniel Thomas in their piece titled, Seven Reasons The Cost Of Living Is Going Up Around The World, which was published by the BBC News. The duo identified rising energy and petrol prices, short supplies of goods, increasing shipping costs, rising wages, trade barriers, as well as discontinued palliatives and reliefs for pandemic as some of the reasons for rising costs of living. Likewise, Alok Sharma in his piece published by the Times of India and titled, The Rising Cost Of Living And Its Impact On Peoples Wallets, identifies increasing expense of housing and accommodation, rising education fees, rising healthcare costs, stagnant wages and income disparity as some of the causes of rising costs of living.
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The above brings to fore the keynote address of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Yemi Cardoso on Friday, November 24 at the CIBN 60th Anniversary and Annual Bankers Dinner. A look through the 30 page paper, the CBN Governor in paragraph 14 alluded to the fact that Nigeria and Nigerians are facing significant macroeconomic and social challenges. In his words, these challenges stem from a variety of factors, including adverse global shocks, unfavorable domestic imbalances, structural rigidities, and the unintended consequences of certain corrective policy measures implemented to restore and realign our macroeconomic landscape”. Also in paragraph 29, the Governor acknowledges the plight of the working class both in the rural and urban centers who are confronted with bleak future and are attracted to socio-economic vices. This being the plight of Nigerians, it is no longer a matter of saying the obvious but that the policy makers will roll out measures, in form of emergencies, to immediately stimulate job creation, wealth creation and gainful employment. To this the paper talks about the need to develop stronger frameworks for measuring the human condition and ensure that policymakers and business leaders pay as much attention to these measures as they do to macroeconomic indicators”. For emphasis sake, the dire conditions of Nigerians require more than tracking, there is need for performance.
In his bid to touch on the cost-pushed inflation and soaring costs of living, the CBN Governor, in paragraph 34 of his address reiterated that the apex bank is committed to achieving monetary and price stability through targeted policies, transparent market operations, and coordination between monetary and fiscal authorities. He emphasizes the price stability role of the CBN in paragraphs 48 and 49; while not leaving out the issue of economic stability in paragraph 57 by mentioning the need to “collaborate with stakeholders and formulate policies that create an enabling environment for sustained economic growth and development”.
Good to hearing with applause-drawing pitches, the CBN Governor should not think that Nigerians are, at this moment, thrilled by charismatic stage display. They want to, as fast as possible, see clear-cut strategy implementation and display of balls to for far-reaching and very effective plans with immediate positive effects. The streets are not smiling at all and the people no longer want to serve as plaything in the hands of the managers of the country’s economy. That Nigerians, greater percentage of which are multidimensionally poor, are being told to make sacrifice while there is no sign that government in its overbloated spending is not rethinking, and political appointees are living larger than life in the midst of abject poverty should be a cause for concern.
Ola Emmanuel is a business planning consultant