Income of two-thirds of households yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels – GSS
A survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), indicates that two -thirds of households’ income have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
This is per the Ghana Statistical Service Household and Job Tracker Survey conducted during the country’s 3rd COVID-19 Wave.
According to the survey, only 26.7% of respondents indicated that their total household income stayed the same as compared to the period before COVID-19 (March 16, 2020), while 68.2% indicated that their household income decreased.
The survey also identified that households spent on average GHS 12 on Personal Protection Equipment (PPEs) per week.
The median expenditure on PPEs (masks, sanitisers, face shields, etc.) per household on the seven days before the interviews was 12.0 with the mean expenditure being 22.0. The Median expenditure was slightly higher in urban areas (14) than in rural areas (10.3).
Of the zones, both the median (15) and mean (25.3) expenditure was the highest in the coastal zone.
Of the different sources of income, non-farm family business income saw the biggest reduction, 77.3% of households with income derived from a non-farm family business saw a decrease in income and only 4.4% reported an increase in income.
The 4.2% of households who got income from pension saw the smallest change in this income source. 76.7% of households however reported no change in pension income, 13.0% reported a reduction and 10.3% reported an increase.
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According to the GSS, borrowing became a more frequent coping strategy in 2021
The survey identified that approximately 86.7% of households used some sort of coping strategy to deal with the negative effects of COVID-19 since March 2020.
The most common coping strategy included relying on savings (43.0%) and reducing food consumption (42.9%).
Respondents reported that most types of coping strategies were used more often in 2020 than in 2021. The exception to this, the survey said, is the borrowing from friends and family and the use of credited purchases.
73.4% of respondents experienced increase in price of major food items
When asked about what shocks households experienced due to COVID-19 since March 2020, 73.4%, indicated that they experienced an increase in the price of major food items consumed and 46.5% indicated that they were affected by the increase of the price of inputs.
58.7% of households indicated that they were affected by the school closures, but the majority (92.1%) of households indicated that this shock occurred in 2020. Other shocks were felt more evenly throughout 2020, and the first and second half of 2021.
