With inflation climbing to a 40-year high and energy prices
rising even higher, Nigerians living in the UK are facing an unprecedented cost
of living crisis.
The UK inflation rate was 4 percent in December 2023, up
from 3.9 percent in the previous month. Between September 2022 and March 2023,
the UK experienced seven months of double-digit inflation, which peaked at 11.1
percent in October 2022.
Rishi Sunak, the nation’s Prime Minister says he is
determined to cut taxes, keep inflation falling and get mortgage rates down to
affordable levels.
Desirous to slow down an overheated economy, London has
embarked on extensive monetary policy tightening that has helped to halve the
inflation rate from 11 percent in 2022 to 4 percent in December 2023.
Yet, this has meant a slowdown in the rate of economic
growth as businesses reduce investments and consumers cut down on spending.
A health worker who wants to be identified as Omoyemi said
though there are food banks around with “street angels” selling at discounted
prices, the cost of varieties of food items has increased significantly.
She stated that the major expense squeezing money out of her
pocket is her rent bills.
“Honestly the cost of living in the UK has increased
significantly. Initially, my 2 bedroom terraced house was £900-1000 but now I
pay 1200 (about 2 million naira monthly).
“Food and groceries have increased too, though it is still
affordable, but the increase is significant,” Omoyemi said.
The health practitioner who lives in Kent, England noted
that the rent bill does not include power, water and council tax bills,
describing the condition as “disturbing”.
Shelter, a housing charity organisation in the UK, said in
August that more than three million people in England who work and rent their
own homes don’t have enough savings to pay their rent for a month if they lose
their job.
“The cost of living crisis is pushing renters to breaking
point, and the government is sitting back while rents spiral out of control,”
Shelter said.
“From reusing your old tea bags to putting on another
jumper, taking shorter showers to just ‘working more hours’ – as one politician
suggested, the news is full of ways to survive the worst cost of living crisis
in the UK since the 1950s.”
While the cost of living has plunged many into untold
hardships, others, like Opeyemi David are seeking cost-saving means.
“The rising cost of living in the UK has indeed presented
challenges. Personally, I’ve been adapting by budgeting more efficiently and
exploring cost-saving alternatives,” the recent graduate of the University of
Sunderland said.
Residing in the Humberside area, David said the UK
government has put plans in place to address the crisis.
Ibrahim Ishola who recently gained admission into the
University of Portsmouth said groceries and other items have spiked, making him
find other cost-effective means to survive.
“Essentials like groceries and utilities have seen notable
increases. For instance, groceries have surged by approximately 15%, and
utility bills have seen an average rise of 10-12%.
“These changes have prompted me to seek more affordable
alternatives and closely monitor my expenditures,” the Lagos-born said.
The Bank of England in its forecasts in November last year
expects inflation to continue to fall in 2024, with the UK’s consumer price
index to average at 4.6 percent in Q4 2023 and 3.1 percent in Q4 2024.
Though inflation has waned in recent months, experts,
including the Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, have cautioned that borrowing
costs will need to remain high for a prolonged period to ensure it falls back
to the 2 percent target set by the government.
Monetary policy tightening continues to dominate the UK
economic landscape.
PwC, a consulting firm, says monetary tightening will
continue to weigh on growth through 2023 and 2024.
“We have only felt around half of the impact from tightening
so far. So, a return to trend growth is not expected until 2025,” PwC said in a
report on the UK’s economic prospects.
A briefing report released in November by the UK’s House of
Commons showed that food prices rose sharply during 2022 and 2023, as global
supply chain disruptions and the effects of Russia’s full-scale invasion of
Ukraine lifted the input costs of food producers.
“UK food and non-alcoholic drink prices were 10.1% higher in
October 2023 compared with the previous year, based on the CPI measure of
inflation.
This continued the decline from the recent peak of 19.1% in
March 2023, which was the highest rate of increase in food prices since 1977.
“Over the two years from October 2021 to October 2023, food
prices rose by 28.0%. It previously took over 13 years, from April 2008 to
October 2021, for average food prices to rise by the same amount.
“Another important driver of high inflation has been energy
prices, with household energy tariffs and road fuel costs increasing in 2022.
Gas prices increased to record levels after Russia launched its full-scale
invasion of Ukraine and continued to rise during much of 2022 due to cuts in
Russian supply”.
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