A Professor of Finance, Prof. Godfred Alufar Bokpin, has decried the rise in inflation and the economic hardships currently being experienced in the country.

According to the Professor, who is also the Dean of Students at the University of Ghana, there are some Ghanaians who cannot afford even one meal a day.

He revealed that during his interaction with the student populace, he found out that there are some university students who can’t afford one meal a day.

"Ghanaians do not deserve this, we deserve better than this"

- Prof. Godfred Bokpin on the state of Ghanaians. #JoySMS pic.twitter.com/u5XD0ioXNr

— Joy 99.7 FM (@Joy997FM) June 9, 2022

"There are others who are deferring their programmes just because they can’t pay GH₵200," he said.

“And it’s not only university students. When you drive through town and you see the streets, you see the aggressiveness with which some of them want to sell something to get themselves a meal, and it’s worrying.”

He bemoaned the gap in the economic conditions of the citizenry, stressing that inequality is getting worse by the day. He says Ghanaians do not deserve the hardship they are currently going through.

He, thus, called for urgent steps to be taken to mitigate the situation.

The Professor opined that the hardships due to the rise in inflation results from the government using the monetary policy to curb inflation in the country.

He said this approach has proven to be futile.

He, therefore, asked the government to adopt a fiscal policy approach toward mitigating inflation in the country.

"We have university students who probably can't afford to eat once a day"

- Prof. Godfred Bokpin on the state of Ghanaians. #JoySMS pic.twitter.com/O0tREcFJdG

— Joy 99.7 FM (@Joy997FM) June 9, 2022

“We must shift our attention to the fiscal side so that the fiscal side will respond appropriately with the discipline that it requires,” he stressed.

“Once the source of the inflation is largely fiscal, then there’s a limit to how far you can deploy the monetary policy to bring down inflation and then engineer growth.

“More so, because of the monetary policy framework that we are using under inflation targeting, because for one key requirement for inflation targeting to be effective, it is fiscal discipline. Once you deny the monetary side the fiscal discipline, then there’s no way they can use the monetary policy effectively to bring down inflation and engineer growth.

His comment follows the Ghana Statistical Service's announcement that the increase in transport fares and surging food prices pushed the rate of inflation in May 2022, to 27.6%.

This is against 23.6% recorded in April, 2022.

According to the Government Statistician, Professor Kobina Annim, the rate of inflation for Transport (39.0%), Household Equipment and Maintenance (33.8%), Housing, Water, Gas and Electricity (32.3%) and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (30.1.6%) were higher than the national average (27.6%).

In May, 2022, 12 of the 13 divisions recorded inflation rates higher than the rolling average from June, 2021 to May, 2022.

The data showed that Food inflation in May, 2022 was 30.1%, compared with 26.6% in April 2022. Non-food Inflation was however 25.7% in May, 2022, as against 21.3% the previous month.