Is Nestle Ghana supporting staff with GHC 7,500 to cushion them against economic woes?
Discussions about the depreciation of the local currency, the Cedi against the US dollar has dominated the headlines in Ghana over the past few days.
This is coming on the back of news that, the Cedi is now the worst ranked currency globally.
The Ghana Cedi continued its free fall, losing value twice on Thursday (20 October) to sell at GHC 4.50 to one US dollar.
This translated to 5.45% depreciation in a day and 17.5% in four days of the week.
It began the day at GHC 13.75 to the American ‘greenback’ but declined in value further to GHC 14.50, according to quotations by the forex bureaus.
In nominal terms, the Cedi has lost about 135% value to the world’s most important currency.
In real terms, the local currency has depreciated by about 55% to the dollar.
Currently, the average Ghanaian earns not more than GHC 2,500 per month.
According to Abdul Hayi Moomen, what this means is that exactly a year ago, the average Ghanaian used to earn “$ 416 (dollars) per month.
A year later, the average increase on the salary of the average Ghanaian was only 10 percent, which brought the average salary up to GHC 2,750.
At the moment, the dollar to cedi rate is hovering around 1:15. That then brings the average Ghanaian salary, despite the 10 percent increase, to $ 215 (dollars).
In essence, the Ghanaian worker has seen about 50 percent decrease in his/her earnings in the last 12 months.
Meanwhile, prices of “everyday” items such as (forget fuel and assume it is a problem for the rich and elite car owners), toothpaste, tomatoes, bread, sanitary pad, ‘pure water’ and even condom, have risen – continue to rise.
Ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t about politics. It is reality, Hayi Moomen concluded.
So, it was refreshing when I saw leak of an internal communication from Nestle Ghana Ltd informing workers (line managers, I hear) with GHC 7,500 to cushion them in this challenging times.
The leaked letter reads: Economic Volatility in Ghana-Support to Employees.
Dear colleagues
The unstable and unpredictable economic turbulence we continue to see in Ghana since the beginning of 2022 have brought major challenges to us as business.
I am proud of how as one Team, we have been united to overcome these unprecedented challenges in a very difficult time.
Despite these difficulties and as a sign of appreciation to the effort of each and every one of us, Management has decided to support employees and their families during this period.
I’m pleased to inform you that all permanent local employees will receive a one-off lump sum payment of GHC 7,500(Seven Thousand, Five Hundred Ghana Cedis) together with their upcoming October 2022 salaries.
Please note that the payment will be subject to statutory tax deductions.
Signed
Georgios Badaros
Managing Director
- The leaked document
