By Fatoumatta J Camara
As the year 2024 starts, the expectations of everyone are still in limbo hence the prices of items are still skyrocketing without a fixed time to unanimously praise the government for a price control effort.
Some concerned citizens are still very much worried about many things especially when the standard of living is derogating and many things are becoming unaffordable, particularly for the common people in society.
Starting with traders, Abou Jah, a jewelry seller pointed out the high cost of jewelry, arguing that their sales price depends on where and how they get their items.
Mr Jah explained that most of their items are from European countries and sometimes the exchange rate of foreign currencies is affected and determines the sales price.
“As a businessman, you have to know how to balance your items to earn a profit,” he stated and emphasised that the items they are selling have no fixed price if they travel to the other part of the world to buy their products, one jewelry can cost $2000 and converting it into dalasi and costing it will make the price high, too.
A second-hand cloth seller, Babucarr Badjie told The Voice that second-hand products are exported from Europe to The Gambia while explaining that first-class ballot clothes cost D8,500 and second-class ballot clothes cost D6,000.
Meanwhile, he noted that their materials from the ballot got no fixed price but also depended on the rate they bought them from the importers.
More so, he continued, the price is always increased from the wholesalers, and if you are lucky enough to have good ballots of second-hand clothes you can earn a huge profit, if not you pray for good luck when you are buying another time.
Pa Nyang, a human hair seller who has been in the business for over fifteen years said the wigs he sells come from Nigeria and sometimes Senegal. “But it is not every day that you make a sale or have a good sale that can give you enough or expected profit because sometimes also you go home with an empty purse.”
The reason is that the high rate of the items leads to no sale hence customers have a scale preference in terms of spending money nowadays.